El Chino Mine

Chino (or Santa Rita) Mine
Chino mine
Location
Chino Mine Location in New Mexico 32.7917425°N 108.0672635°W / 32.79174°N 108.06726°W / 32.79174; -108.06726Coordinates: 32.7917425°N 108.0672635°W / 32.79174°N 108.06726°W / 32.79174; -108.06726
Location	Santa Rita
State	New Mexico
Country	United States
Owner
Company	Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
History
Opened	1909

The Chino Mine ("Chino" is Spanish for the "Chinaman"), also known as the Santa Rita mine, is an open-pit copper mine located in the town of Santa Rita, New Mexico 15 miles (24 km) east of Silver City. The mine was started as the Chino Copper Company in 1909 by mining engineer John M. Sully,^[1] and is currently owned and operated by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold subsidiaries. The area where the mine is located is at an average elevation of 5,699 feet (1,737 m).

Native copper from Chino (size: 11.2 x 9.3 x 0.4 cm)

The huge open-pit mine was once the largest in the world, but has been surpassed by Chuquicamata, and is perhaps the oldest mining site still being used in the American southwest. Apaches, Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans have all obtained native copper and copper ore from this site, once known as the Santa Rita mine, and in the 19th century, a tunnel mine. The present-day open-pit mining operation was begun in 1910. It is the third oldest open pit copper mine in the world after the Bingham Canyon Mine and Chuquicamata.

A mill to process the low-grade copper ore was established in 1911 in nearby Hurley but was replaced by a new (current) Ivanhoe concentrator facility in 1982. Milling operations recently (January 2004) restarted at the Chino Concentrator after a three-year hiatus caused by low copper prices. SX/EW operations started in 1988 and have run continuously since. Reserves of copper ore at Chino are expected to last until 2015.

A smelter in Hurley was commissioned in 1939 and was modernized in 1985 to increase capacity and achieve compliance with the Clean Air Act. In 2005, the smelter was permanently closed.

December 3, 2008, Chino's parent company, Freeport-McMoRan, announced it plans to suspend mining and milling activities at Chino, but will continue reclamation activities and copper production from its SX-EW plant. About 600 people from the current work force of 830 will be laid off beginning about Feb. 13, 2009.

Freeport-McMoRan announced in October 2010 that they would be restarting operations at the mine ramping production up to a planned mining and milling rate by 2013. They are also planning $150 million in refurbishments and new equipment.

References

Notes

1. ^ Stuckwisch, Michelle., Patricia Padilla, Gretchen Dickey and Ruth Vise. "Mining Became Big Business in Southwest". - El Paso Community College.

External links

• Media related to Chino Mine at Wikimedia Commons
• Chino Mine and Processing Facilities - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold