Salt Lake County, Kennecott agree to Rose Canyon deal

SALT LAKE COUNTY — Kennecott Utah Copper and Salt Lake County officials have reached an agreement to sell 832 acres of Rose Canyon for more than $5.3 million, which is more than $1 million more than the county originally paid for the land.

The agreement, announced Saturday, will also allow public access on most of the land, approximately 4,000 acres.

Kennecott is buying land that is southeast of and next to Bingham Canyon Mine. The company held subsurface mineral rights to the area before the county bought the surface land in 2007. The Federal Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 and the Mining Law of 1872 permits mineral and surface rights to land to be held by different owners.

The purchase will put money into Salt Lake County's efforts to buy more land for open-space use.

"The county acknowledges that Kennecott, as the mineral rights owner, has legal rights through which it is entitled to conduct exploration activities on the property," said Julie Peck-Dabling, the county's Open Space and Urban Farming Program Manager. "This agreement is quite beneficial to the county in that we can begin purchasing additional open space through he Open Space Trust Fund that has been depleted."

Kennecott officials also are pleased with the agreement.

"We have worked collaboratively with the county, and, as we discussed expanding our operation, it became apparent that a purchase represented the best approach," according to Brendan Ryan, Kennecott's vice president of projects and expansion. "We are pleased to be able to keep the majority of this land open to the public in a way that gives the county new funds to acquire additional lands."

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