- Safford Mine
The Safford Mine is an open-pit copper mine located in
Graham County, Arizona , eight miles north of the town of Safford. The mine is owned and operated by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold.Construction on the Safford mine began in mid-2006. Production began
December 26 ,2007 , with full production started in 2008. [ [http://www.fcx.com/envir/pdf/health-safety/safford/safford_mine.pdf "Safford Mine Tops 5 Million Pounds of Copper in First Month"] - Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold - (Adobe Acrobat *.PDF document)] It is the first new large-scale copper mining project in Arizona in more than 30 years. [http://www.house.gov/list/press/az01_renzi/RenziSaffordLandExchange.html "Renzi Pleased to See Safford Land Exchange Completed"] - CongressmanRick Renzi (AZ – 1) - U.S. House of Representatives (c/o House.gov) - September 20, 2005] In September of 2005, as part of the deal, Phelps Dodge (which was subsequently purchased by Freeport-McMoran) transferred 3,867 acres of "environmentally sensitive" land to theBureau of Land Management (BLM) and purchased 16,297 acres, located next to where the mine is located, from the BLM. [Stockton, Lindsey. [http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2005/09/28/local_news/news02.prt "Officials glad land exchange is complete"] - "Eastern Arizona Courier" - September 28, 2005]The mine composes two
porphyry copper deposits (the San Juan and Dos Pobres copper ore bodies) that have leachable oxide and secondary sulfide mineralization. Freeport-McMoran estimates that it will remove 205 to 240 million pounds of copper from the deposits annually between 2008 and 2011. [ [http://www.fcx.com/operations/USA_Safford.htm Safford Mine] -Freeport-McMoRan ]The area where the mine is located is at an average elevation of ft to m|4186.
The mine is served by a branch of the
Arizona Eastern Railway .ee also
*
Copper mining in Arizona References
External links
* [http://www.fcx.com/operations/USA_Safford.htm Safford Mine] - Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold
*Mapit-US-cityscale|32.9472852|-109.6509124
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