Largest open pit mine | Morenci, AZ | Clifton, AZ

Largest open pit mine | Morenci, AZ | Clifton, AZ

#arizona #coppermine #trains #mines #oldwest #navajo #familyvlog

Hello again! We have another video coming at you this week. But first I’d like to reintroduce our family, we are the Curley’s: Melton, Drew, Tyrel, Miles, and Colter. We are Navajo from Chinle, AZ. Currently living in Southeastern AZ. We started our YouTube channel recently to capture some memories of our travels throughout our home state of AZ. Our motivation is family bonding while exploring national parks, lakes, and do some recreational activities as a family. We have an introduction video and another video of us introducing the channel and our clans. Thank you for joining.
In this video, we visited Morenci, AZ to see the largest open pit mines in the US. They mine for mainly copper and has been mining since the 1800’s. It is a beautiful site to see the size of the mine, highly recommend visiting if you have a chance. Hope you enjoy our video.

Information on Freeport McMoran Mining:

https://www.fcx.com/index.php/

Introduction video:

Video of our Navajo clans introduction:

https://youtu.be/A_b00_yk-LU

14 Comments

  1. Victor Freeman on August 17, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    All copper mines are gold mines

  2. Navajo Urban Deschinii on August 17, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    NIZHONOOO NIZHONI old town back in the day jinii, thanks for letting us tag along on your getaway…looks like the whole family had some fun…

  3. Shirley Lujan on August 17, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    I just came upon this channel, I use to live in Stafford many years ago, and I had cousins that lived in morenci to nice vlog.

  4. Irma Tsosie on August 17, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    Miss working and living there thanks for sharing

  5. Guillermo on August 17, 2022 at 10:06 pm

    I was born in Clifton in ’59 and then we moved up the hill when a house became available in Stargo in ’60. My dad worked for Phelps Dodge from 1946 until 1971. I was there when all of the new Morenci was built. We got one of those brand new houses in the summer of ’69. 2 years later I was among the first bunch of kids to attend the brand new, state of the art Fairbanks Junior High school as a 7th grader. Morenci was on fire back in the 60’s and 70’s. All of new Morenci was brand new, shopping center, theater, library and a new hospital even. All of us kids felt like we owned the world. I haven’t been there since 1981 but it’s on my list when I retire. I know I’m in for a shock.

  6. Unreal Tours on August 17, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    This open pit looks similar to many in Western Australia. I’ve only spent about 1 week in Arizona and hope to return in the future. Will sub 👍

  7. marilyn jones on August 17, 2022 at 10:12 pm

    Looks too deserty & looks too hot hardly no trees…yah’ di’ la🧐

  8. Veronica Shirley on August 17, 2022 at 10:17 pm

    Interesting vlog..New subscriber 👍🏽

  9. marilyn jones on August 17, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    Looks long….😕

  10. Sally Hooke on August 17, 2022 at 10:20 pm

    Nice I have driven by there never stopped to explore. There is a turnoff that can take you to the apache reservation..rough road. Thanks for sharing I may take a drive there again soon.

  11. Corliss Barnes on August 17, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    Great video. Really enjoyed it. Thank You

  12. Victor Freeman on August 17, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    Love this area ,lived there back in the 70s have family and friends there

  13. Andrew Vukich on August 17, 2022 at 10:26 pm

    Have a buddy that works in Morenci. Always tries to get me to come work with him 😂 thanks for the little sneak peak into what it’s like out there!

  14. Mark Feagans on August 17, 2022 at 10:26 pm

    I worked at the Morenci mine in 2007. Quite the site seeing rain birds spaying sulphuric acid instead of water. It’s used to leach the copper, gold, silver and platinum from the crushed, layered rock. Once dissolved, it collects in the bottom of the mine in log ride like troughs and flows for a distance downward into the anode-cathode building wherein it gets a DC current applied to it to form plates. Since the on site smelter is no longer available, it’s trucked to a smelter in Texas. There were miles of large, semi- hard rubberized pipes throughout the mine with several pump houses to circulate all the acid back to the top of the mine and into the troughs. Fascinating experience for me.

    PS: what you can’t see is the immense electric shovel/loader that loads the haul trucks with a single scoop.

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