Voices: Our class may be small, but our impact is enormous in Utah and beyond. We shouldn’t be on the chopping block.

(Rick Bowmer | AP) The Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine is shown Wednesday, May 11, 2022, in Herriman. Rio Tinto will begin manufacturing tellurium, a rare mineral used in solar panels that used to be discarded along with the other mine tailings, at the Kennecott refinery. The company says it is one of two in the U.S. to produce the tellurium, which is listed as a “critical mineral” by the U.S. government.