Primary Copper Industry of Arizona in 1989
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THE PRIMARY COPPER INDUSTRY OF ARIZONA IN 1989 DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES BY RICHARD R. BEARD ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES Leroy E. Kissinger, Director Phoenix Office: Tucson Office: Mineral Building, Fairgrounds 416 W. Congress, Rm. 162 Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Tucson, Arizona 85701 (602) 255-3791 Office open Monday and Tuesday Toll Free in Arizona: 800-446-4259 (602) 628-6340 BOARD OF GOVERNORS Clifford B. Altfeld • Tucson Chairman Roy Miller - Phoenix Edna Vinck • Globe Secretary Vice Chairman Arthur H. Kinneberg - Phoenix C. J. Hansen - Tucson Member Member Cover: Copper cathodes from Ray's SX-EW plant. STATE OF ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES Leroy E. Kissinger, Director THE PRIMARY COPPER INDUSTRY OF ARIZONA IN 1989 Special Report No. 16 by Richard R. Beard, Mining Engineer October, 1990 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authorwishes to express his sincere appreciation to the management and staffofeach ofArizona's mining companies for graciously devoting time and effort to provide information for this report. Lorraine Burgin and Michael Greeley ofthe U.S. Bureau ofMines, Dr. George Learning of the Western Economic Analysis Center of Marana, Arizona, and the American Bureau ofMetal Statistics, Inc. ofSecaucus, New Jersey also provided vital information. Thanks are also due to the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the Arizona Department ofRevenue, and the staffofthe JointLegislative Budget Committee for providing statistics and data. A special gratitude is felt toward the preceding authors for providing the format and sources of statistical information, to Leroy E. Kissinger, Director ofthe Department ofMines and Mineral Resources, for provid ing the opportunity to author this report, and to Diane Bain for her editing and desktop publishing efforts. TABLE OF CONTENTS IN1RODUCTION . 1 COPPER PRODUCTION IN ARIZONA - 1989 ...................................... 3 1989 OPERATIONS SUMMARY. ................................................ 4 STATUS AND PROGRESS 6 IDGHLIGHTS OF COMPANY OPERATION IN ARIZONA Arimetco. .............................................. 10 Asarco 10 Cyprus Minerals Company. ................................ 12 Kocide Mining Corp. .. .... .. .. .. .. .. ..................... 15 Magma Copper Company. ................................. 15 Phelps Dodge Corporation ................................. 17 SEVERENCE TAX ON METALLIFEROUS MINERALS. ............................ 19 PROPERTY TAX. ............................................................. 22 STATISTICAL TABLES * PRODUCTION Arizona Table I Copper and Molybdenum Production of Large Arizona Copper Mines, 1989. ........................................... 24 Table II Arizona Leach Copper Production 28 Table III Rank ofArizona's Copper Companies by Production ofCopper and Molybdenum, 1989. .................................. 30 Table IV Rank ofArizona's Copper Mines by Production ofCopper and Molybdenum, 1989 ......... .. .... .. ..................... 31 Table V Arizona Mine Production ofRecoverable Copper by Month and Cumulative Year to Date, 1985-89. ......................... 32 Table VI Average Copper Content of Ore Produced at Arizona Copper Mines, 1980-89 .......................................... 33 Table VII Percent Contained Copper Recovered at Arizona Copper Mines, 1980-89 "...... .. ............. 35 Table VIII Stripping Ratios at Arizona Open-Pit Copper Mines (Waste:Ore), 1980-89. .. .. .. ...... .. .............. .. ........ .. ...... 37 Table IX Arizona Production and Value of Copper, Molybdenum, Gold, and Silver Recovered from Copper Ore, 1973-89 .................. 39 Table X Nonfuel Mineral Production in Arizona :..... 42 Table XI Copper Mine Capacity in Arizona. .......................... 43 United States Table XII Copper Smelters in North America. ......................... 44 Table XIII Copper Production of Companies in the U.S. .................. 45 Table XIV Copper Imports of the U.S. by Country. ............... .. ..... 46 Table XV Copper Exports of the U.S. by Country. ..................... 50 EMPLOYMENT Arizona Table XVI "Covered Employment" and Wages in Arizona Copper Mining and Smelting. .............................................. 54 Table XVII Arizona Industries Covered by Social Security Year - 1989. ...... 56 Table XVIII Direct and Indirect Impacts of the Copper Industry on the Arizona Economy - 1989 ......................................... 57 United States Table XIX Employment, Earnings and Hours in Copper Mining in the United States and Arizona, 1971-89 ................................ 58 INVENTORIES Table XX Refined Copper Inventories at Month End 1983-89 ............. 62 PRICES Table XXI Average Quoted Price ofElectrolytic Copper Wirebar - Domestic, Delivered 1980-89 ....................................... 63 COSTS Table XXII Average Copper Cash Production Costs for the United States. 1983-88. ............................................... 64 RESERVES Table XXIII Copper Reserve BaSe in Arizona. ........................... 65 Copper Reserves - Listed by Company ....................... 73 Table XXIV Arizona and U.S. Copper Mine Production in Short Tons of Copper, 1875-89 ......................................... 74 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Map ofProducing Copper Properties, 1989 .................... 2 Figure 2 Graph of Copper Prices, 1930 - 89 ........................... 5 Figure 3 Graph of Copper Produced (Recoverable Content), 1971 - 89 ..... 61 Figure 4 Graph Showing Productivity of Arizona Copper Workers, 1971 - 61 89 . Figure 5 Map Showing Copper Reserves, 1989 ........................ 72 * Throughout this report a "ton" means a short ton (2,000 pounds or 0.90718 metric ton). Specific statistics may vary slightly from table to table due to differences in source data. INTRODUCTION The Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources presents herein a report covering activity in Arizona's copper industry in the calendar year 1989. A briefreview ofoperational highlights reported by the major developers and producers in the State, market and price developments that affected copper production, and discussions of Arizona severance taxes on metalliferous minerals are included. The contained statisticaltables include various production, employment, inventory, import/export, prices, costs, and ore reserve numbers for 1989. Production of recoverable copper is given for individual mines and by company. Figures showing the importance of copper in the mining industry are provided, as are data on the by-products of copper mining; gold, silver, and" molybdenum. In addition, historical compila tions are included for leach copper, average grade of ore produced, percent copper recovered, open pit mine stripping ratios, and employ ment and earnings. Additional compilations indicating refined copper inventories in and out ofthe United States and average copper prices by month from 1980 through 1989 are provided. Also included are tables showing designed mine capacity and copper reserves in Arizona plus average copper cash production costs for the United States, 1983-1988. The Department maintains extensive reference libraries in its Phoenix and Tucson offices concerning the copper industry in Arizona. These repositories include information on individual mines and mining com panies, United States Bureau of Mines and United States Geological Survey publications, other professional publications, periodicals, and earlier editions of this report. Additionally, experienced mining en gineers are available for consultation, at no charge, on matters germane to the minerals industry. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all non-holiday weekdays in Phoenix and on Mondays and Tuesdays in Tucson. Figure 1. PRODUCING COPPER PROPERTIES 1989 COCONINO JVI0I-IAVE I ill. Minerai pa~. .. NAVAJO co I ~ ( L @Bagdad ~ LAPAZ l i . i Cypg~laml ~-1 . ,.. ,,...,\ JV'· Ph.lCmx~ PI n-~~il_~l,~.otV" '. M.I~m1. -' .ill..ill. "" . L-.',1, I , .~ 'I"'-"'~ ,• c., I I' I \, Kockie~ ~re~1 : I Ray @ \....u,/!' l ! @5 I I vHa~den l« I CasalGrande @ I\.' ~ ill. san.Manuel w~ ! .,,,....u 1 Sliver Bell ---- ,-- .ill. 'I" UCSOD PIMA Mission I @ © Twin But.es @ Open Pit Mine © Slerrlt~ SANT~'-'" J -.- U Copper Queen It Underground Mine - CRUZ .ill. .ill. Leach Plant Only ...u Smelter 1989 OPERATIONS SUMMARY Operating Properties 14 Operating Companies 6 Operating Smelters 3 Ore Mined (including some oxide) 196,684,000 tons Ore Milled (sulfides) 158,920,000 tons Waste/Overburden removed (includes some leach material) 261,941,000 tons Average stripping ratio 1.46:1 Copper produced 1,004,891 tons - 60.8% of U.S. From sulfide ores 754,556 tons - 75.1 % of AZ Average grade 0.62% copper From leaching 250,335 tibs - 24.9% of AZ SX-EW 237,667 tons - 94.9% of leached 23.7% of total Precipitation 12,668 tons - 5.1 % of leached Molybdenum produced 29,795,000 pounds Silver produced 4,926,600 troy ounces Gold produced 69,000 troy ounces Average employment 11,111 Average annual wage 34,488 Productivity (production workers) 118 lb. of copper per man-hour, 11 .6 tons of are per man-hour 4 COPPER PRODUCTION IN was 1.46 to 1 (Table VITI). This is comparable to the 1.49 to 1 in 1988 which probably indi ARIZONA - 1989 cates continued normal long range mine plan ning. Arizona's copper industry produced 1,004,891 tons of copper in 1989 (Table I). The weighted average grade - percentcopper This is an increase of 6.7% above 1988, but is -, of sulfide ores mined in 1989 was 0.62% still 8.8% below the record production of 1981 copper (Table VI). (Table