1-21-17

The 1st of 3 holes we went to visit south of Tucson. This giant hole is a working open-pit copper mine. 2 miles north to south. 1.75 miles east to west. 1/4 mile deep.

6 x the amount of earth moved to dig the Panama Canal has been mined here. They expect to be mining here another 20 years.

And this is how big those trucks are that move tons & tons & tons of rock.

They grind the rock.

Then move it indoors to grind it some more. 

It's deposited in this turn style mixer that creates the proper formula. It turns it into a powder which is then turned into a large plate made of 99% copper.

The next step is trucking the plates to Texas for another refining process creating a finished product of 99.99% copper. This percentage is needed & suitable for using in copper piping, wiring & more for all our electrical uses. 

A favorite photo at Asarco! We all enjoyed the tour of this interesting & massive operation of copper mining!

Now onto hole #2...