Massive Landslide In Kennecott Copper Bingham Canyon Mine, Oquirrh Mountains, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

At the refinery, the anode plates are pressed flat and interleaved with stainless steel cathode blanks. Automated robotic vehicles place the prepared anodes in cells containing an acidic electrolyte. When the cells are electrified, the anodes slowly dissolve, freeing copper ions that are deposited on the cathode as 99.9-percent-pure copper.
Impurities and precious metals settle to the bottom of the electrolytic cells as "slimes." A chlorination leaching process recovers the gold and silver, which is melted in induction furnaces.