675 Look at what I stumbled upon Morenci Copper Mine Biggest in North America 2
675 Look at what I stumbled upon Morenci Copper Mine Biggest in North America 2
Welcome to the Sasnak channel. Come along with me as I travel the nations highways . I will be mostly traveling around the country to small towns looking for unique stories to share with ya’ll
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WOW! that was cool. You are rockin the editing Mr. Stan. Good job.
Mining Engineer here
The plates- we mine the rock and put them in massive "pads", the man-made mountains you see, and use an acidic leaching solution to dissolve the natural copper in the rock into a solution we pump to a facility where we used electricity to plate the dissolved copper into sheets of 98% pure copper.
ROM- Run of MIne, this is the rock we blast and then haul straight to a leach pad as mentioned above.
MFL- Mine for leach, this rock has a higher grade of copper in it so it is hauled to a crusher to drastically increase the amount of copper that is recovered.
These are both heap leach processes that use acid to dissolve the copper and Electrowinning to make the copper plates.
Mil- Milled, is the highest grade rock that is first crushed and then pulverized into essentially sand then a chemical process called floatation separates the copper from the rest of the minerals in the rock. That produces a concentrate that is hauled to the smelter in Miami, AZ to produce pure copper.
All this is done in the millions of tons of rock moved and copper is quantified in pounds.
Phelps-Dodge consolidated the older mines and ran the massive open pit operation, until 2007 when the company was bought out by Freeport-McMoRan. Phelps-Dodge had copper mines all over the southwest, notably in Bisbee, AZ, as well as other sites, all of which Freeport now owns and some still operate. Freeport is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, and operates mines all over the world.
The semis you saw from the overlook are heading to heavy truck repair shops, the copper sheets are hauled from three locations located closer to Morenci. The black pipes you see are moving "PLS" pregnant leach solution" the "liquified" copper to be plated.
The top of the mine is at an elevation of just over 6000 feet, and the bottom of that pit is at an elevation of 3150 feet.
The priest lives in the rectory up the hill in Morenci. He actually says mass in Morenci, Clifton and Duncan. He is a very hard-working guy. That sacred heart church was where my husband’s parents were married and where I met and married my husband
I was born and raised in Clifton. It was a wonderful place to grow up but that all changed when the idiots went on strike at the copper mine in 1983.
Dump trucks are about $2 million each, Copper is about $7,000 a ton, 5 ton slabs. Just a little useless information for everyone.
Notice they all drive on the left. They do that in the oilsands mines here but only when it’s wet to make the haul road wear evenly.
15:34 Administrative office for Morenci.
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Whoa! Wow!
My niece was driving the trucks till she got hurt in an accident, son in law and daughter still works there.
I drive the big haul trucks and water trucks four years now I love my job. My boss is the best and my coworkers too.
I used to live in the three way
I used to live there
Wow, you remind me of my son. He is a big history buff and I saw the train and he loves them too. Pam must be a great person because, you are just a big hearted loving person. I just love your personality and what you are doing
nice video bro, very insightful, the whole coper mining system is MASS, but if you knew how many THINGS use or have COPPER in it, it makes MONEY, they had to make a Grand Canyon, what’s crazy is they have a bigger copper mine in Chili with bigger dump trucks! and machines, and the refining process looks like hell, MELTING AND REFINING OF THE METAL
They have to spray water to prevent the dust from flying around, the dust is toxic to humans! In the Chili copper mine has takin a toll on the environment and has poison the water supply, even after trying to RECYCLE(refine) the water.
ThIS operations looks better but the environmental impact and safety of people in and near these mine facilities can be SKETCHY
Its just another day in my office. Working, transporting mine material, rock crusher parts, shovel assemblies and various other things keeps me as busy as I want with a sweet profit. Morenci is the biggest mine in history followed by Safford, Green Valley, Chino and over 100 other mines through out Arizona.
Another very interesting mine is Chino. Located 8 miles from Silver City, NM and just above Bayard, NM. A huge history in that area all the way down to Deming, NM.
Absolutely excellent Sasnak! Well done Amigo.
Those caterpillars Haul dump truck’s are two lanes wide tires are 13’ high
Lovely old lady there informing visitors. I really like that places like these are manned by older people from the area. They have knowledge from times gone by and a genuine interest in the community and their surroundings. More places should use their elderly for this type of thing. Many elderly would jump on the idea to sit and talk to people a few days a week instead of sitting at home.
Morenci is my home town! The dump trucks we always called them haulers. But they are just a little on the big side. I think the last I heard they haul something like 306 tons each. My daddy was a shovel operator. That’s all my family has ever known is copper mining. Used to be called Phelps Dodge but they don’t exist anymore it’s now Freeport McMoRan now. Best childhood. And 191 used to be Route 666. We always called it going up the trail with it being Coronado’s Trail. But they changed the route number cause folks were calling it the Devil’s Highway.
Caddy looks to be about a 56.
Thank’s for the video Stan
All your videos are so informative…
Take care
My brother and uncle used to mine for gold in Qrartzite. They found a little, but didn’t get rich lol
That is an awesome mine tour!!
Amazing. Very good production. It truly is like a man-made Grand Canyon. And generations have worked in the mines down there.
Very nice!
Just spent the night in Morenci to motorcycle up the 191. Thanks for bringing this mine episode online for me to learn !
Amazing that they allow visitors to just walk around there. Looks like a major employer, wages would be very good. These are the same massive trucks they use at the Tar Sands in Alberta.
Haul trucks 797 series
56or57
Look up Bisbee Massacre. The 5 killers were rustlers from Clifton.
You know a true friend would of grabbed one of those sheep by the horns and wrestled it in the back of the van. So Tom could of had some really good meat . I guess you just didn’t think about it .
My neighbor has worked there for 47 years. One interesting fact he told me is that the haul trucks use $7,000 worth of diesel fuel each 12 hour shift. They have 140 of these trucks running non-stop. His wife also drove a haul truck for over 20 years there.
WOW!!!! This is definitely your best video yet. I literally do not have words for how freaking cool this tour was. I’m visualizing driving one of those huge trucks to go blow up some ground. As always thank you for the amazing views and education.
They no longer have a smelting process in Morenci, everything is done through the Electrowinning process I believe. My family has worked this mine for generations. I was one of the few that went a different route.
I work at the Morenci Mine as a haul truck operator, the day this uploaded I was on the 635!
Digging in the ground is a widespread human pastime. They are making a proper job of it at the Morenci Mine.
MFL mine for leach MIL is Mill. That’s the rich stuff. Same thing but the difference is the process by which it’s extracted
That was pretty cool. You never know what you’re going to come across in the desert Southwest. Safe travels.
Old theatres burned because original film was very flammable and if not handled and stored right was right explosive.
Great video my father was a quality control inspector there I have a bucket of turquoise out of there and tons of pictures.
Now that was just flat cool! Nice work Stan
Super Trucker Dan picked up a load of Copper 2 or 3 months ago somewhere out there. They make you tarp every load for your own protection, I sure. Never been there, so I sure enjoyed getting to go with you.
You are like this old lady, a goose that wakes up in a new world every day. I just love your enthusiasm about things that a lot of people miss. Great videos. Enjoy everty thing you can, old age takes it toll, I did not believe that, I am getting to see the things I always said I would go back and see from my driving days. I have a new little truck stop just up the road from me, just passed a law, no "engine retarders" makes your head want to explode.
Takes a special kinda person to drive those big dump trucks.. unbelievable operation , thanks for sharing
Used to watch movies there at the 3 way drive in…
🤯 How’d you like to drive one of those giant Tonka trucks for 💩 ‘s and Giggles 🤭
They have been digging at the mine in Silver City NM across the line for over 200 years.
i haul copper out of the ray mine in kearny az everytime im out there
If I was to take a guess, the Cadillac looks like a 1957. We had a man in our town when I was a kid that had one, his was identical and it was a 57.