Someone Put Footage from 2001 in a Salt Mine

?Right after 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s initial release, director Stanley Kubrick cut out 17 minutes of footage to tighten up the pacing on the already long movie. For some reason, somehow, somebody put that footage in a salt mine in Kansas, where it was eventually found by the guys who were making that 2001 documentary I told you guys about a while ago (apparently it’s since been canceled).

What.
The.
Fuck?

I’m obviously interested in what the footage contains, and seeing it, but I’m INFINITELY more interested in learning how PART OF A STANLEY KUBRICK MOVIE ENDED UP IN A SALT MINE IN KANSAS. That blows my fucking mind. Anyways, IMDB mentions some shots that were deleted, which this found footage could contain:

• Some shots from the “Dawn of Man” sequence were removed and a
  new scene was inserted where an ape pauses with the bone it is about to
  use as a tool. The new scene was a low-angle shot of the monolith, done
  in order to portray and clarify the connection between the man-ape using
  the tool and the monolith.
• Some shots of Frank Poole jogging in the centrifuge were removed.
• An entire sequence of several shots in which Dave Bowman searches for the replacement antenna part in storage was removed.
• A scene where HAL severs radio communication between the
  “Discovery” and Poole’s pod before killing him was removed. This scene
  explains a line that stayed in the film in which Bowman addresses HAL on
  the subject.
• Some shots of Poole’s space walk before he is killed were removed.

Apparently the footage is in perfect condition, because… salt mine? Hell if I know. (Via Live for Films)