Mine almost halfway complete


Published on Monday, April 23, 2007 10:29 AM MST

Engineering, ordering is complete

By Diane Saunders, Staff Writer

Since 1920, about $1 billion has been spent by various copper companies, including Phelps Dodge and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, for copper exploration of the new Safford mine site, said Kimball Hansen, Phelps Dodge spokesman.

The ore screening plant is one of the structures going up at the Safford Dos Pobres mine. Construction on the mine is about 40-percent complete and will peak in the next couple of weeks. Photo by Diane Saunders

Today, construction of the Dos Pobres mine just north of Safford is about 40 -percent complete, and the engineering and ordering of supplies and equipment are complete, Hansen said.

About 1,000 construction workers work at the plant site now.

Hansen said the number of construction workers is nearing its peak. The number will begin to decline within the next few months, Hansen said.

When mining begins in 2008, Phelps Dodge expects to have 400 permanent employees at the Dos Pobres mine. Hansen said the mining company will include the Bylas community in its recruitment efforts for the mine.

While construction work was in progress, Phelps Dodge merged with Freeport-McMoRan in a $2.6 billion deal to form the world’s largest publicly traded copper miner.

Hansen said all Phelps Dodge copper mines in Arizona will continue to bear the Phelps Dodge name.

When the new mine is ready for production, the mine site will include a large pit; an ore stockpile that will eventually grow to 9,000 feet long by 4,000 feet wide; a screening plant; conveyor systems; and ore screener; ore crushers and several electrical substations.

“At all these facilities there will be (electrical) substations,” Hansen said recently as he took Courier representatives on a tour of the plant site.

The mine site will have a large water retention basin built according to environmental requirements, Han-sen said.

Comments

10 comment(s)

    Ian Mccartney wrote on Sep 17, 2008 4:20 PM:

    " I went to this camp in the summer of 05 when they were located in concho. I highly doubt that vallentine is telling the truth because when i went they was plenty of food. I remeber that they made us but on spf 50 sunscreen by the gallons. They provided us with gallons of water a day. I think that denton should have stayed in concho because it was a lot better. Big deal the recruits have no ac or water. what to expect bootcamp to be a vaction? And by the way the dirt isnt going to kill you "

    H. Craig Bradley wrote on Apr 18, 2008 5:29 PM:

    " The percentage of Americans who recreate in the wild outdoors of our National Forests is shrinking all the time. Today's America is predominately an urban/suburban America. Increasingly, individuals can not part with their IPods, Cell Phones, Laptop Computers and Navigational Aides (GPS). Roughing it outdoors is an experience that fewer and fewer individuals are getting "

    Anonymous wrote on Apr 3, 2008 5:06 PM:

    " Why not tell these people and organizations how you feel?

    Vice Principal Kerry Wilson
    Principal Robert Beeman
    Superintendent Mark Tregaskes
    Safford, Arizona Middle School

    734 11Th Street
    Safford, AZ 85546
    Phone Number: (928) 348-7040

    http://az.localschooldirectory.com/schools_info.php/school_id/3495 "

    THS Alum 2004 wrote on Mar 20, 2008 4:21 PM:

    " I graduated with these guys and it's sad to say that I'm really not that surprised. They're meat heads and are a "few fries short of a happy meal". The authorities did nothing wrong, these people made a dumb choice and will have to deal with the consequences.

    P.S. Doug did it. "

    blah wrote on Mar 6, 2008 8:29 AM:

    " Whatever "

    colton wrote on Jan 29, 2008 2:02 PM:

    " i think doug grant is innocent an i think you should not charge him for murder "

    saline wrote on Jan 29, 2008 2:01 PM:

    " hello hello hello hello hello hello "

    Michael Jackson wrote on Dec 11, 2007 3:02 PM:

    " Why doesn't this newspaper admit that the story reported by Pam Crandall, as related by Jesse MacBeth, in the above article, is a flat out lie??? MacBeth has since admitted that he did not go to Iraq and that he made up all of the stories repeated by Pam Crandall. Please tell the truth. The longer that the Courier stands by these lies the sillier it looks. "

    Jesu Christ! wrote on Oct 25, 2007 8:53 PM:

    " And the authorities wonder why it is that students have so little respect for authority. If I were this kid (or the kid's mother) I would never look at authority the same way again. "

    Daniel Connell wrote on Oct 23, 2007 9:35 AM:

    " i am writting to say that this was a harmless prank and just a little fun for these two innocent teenagers. they should have not gotten in that much trouble for just a harmless prank. being a friend to them you wouldnt see it in my view. they were just looking to have fun in safford because there is nothing else to do and jose hernandez should have not been sent to ADJC on his first crime he ever commited. "

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