Bethlehem Copper fleet truck #419 is on permanent display in the east parking area in Heritage Place Park on Railway Avenue. This bright blue truck is one of many displays in the park that is devoted to preserving some of Ashcroft's local history.
Highland Valley Copper
Wabco 50T Haulpak Truck
Highland Valley Copper a Tech operation in the largest copper mine in Canada and one of the largest open-pit mines in the world. Located in south central British Columbia, about 40 km southeast of Ashcroft on highway 97C , the operation covers an area of about 6,200 hectares. The nearest community to Highland Valley Copper is Logan Lake, 15 km to the east.
The current mining operation is named Highland Valley Copper (owned by Teck Cominco) and operates one of the world's largest open-pit mines. The Highland Valley Copper Mine consists of several large deep pits, dug to expose low-grade copper ore and molybdenum deposits. Large electric shovels and explosives are used to carve out the rock and ore with diesel haul trucks carrying the material to crushing and milling facilities. Copper and molybdenum mineral concentrates, which include trace amounts of silver and gold, are sent via truck to nearby rail facilities where the ore is carried to the Port of Vancouver and to international destinations (primarily Japan and China for copper and steel production). The mine employs approximately 800 persons.
Highland Valley Copper area encompasses four distinctive open-pit operations, Lornex, Highmont Valley and Bethlehem. The Valley pot and Lomex pit are still productive today. Bethlehem Copper began mining in the Highland Valley area in 1962. It was the first low-grade high-volume open pot copper mine in western Canada. Three open pit copper were developed Huestis, Jersey East, Jersey and Iona. Huestis pit was mined from 1970 to 1976, and then production switched over to the Iona pit. Jersey was mined from 1962 to 1982. And production from the pit totaled 96,324,510 tons.
As part of the Bethlehem Copper fleet, truck #419 was operated from 1962 to 1976, first used in the mining of the Jersey pit, then the Huestis pit before being retired to become a water truck. The Wabco 50 tons (or 100,00 pounds) and was powered by a Cummins 635hp engine. Much smaller compared to the current haulage trucks used at Teck, Highland Valley Copper, some of which carry 240 tons and have 2337 hp engines!
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