Arizona has been a leading copper-producer for more than a century. The mining of the metal has contributed to fortune and failure, boom and bust.
The multi-part series Copper at the Crossroads examines the past, present, and future of copper mining in Arizona.
Reporter/Producer Mark Duggan visited several existing open-pit copper mines and sites of proposed future mines. He spoke with citizens who are both opposed to and in support of mining expansion in Arizona.
Listen to the episodes and see a photo gallery below.
Copper at the Crossroads aired in 2011.
Series Reporter/Producer: Mark Duggan
The Stories
Copper: The Miracle Metal
Copper mining in Arizona is a tale of both fortune and failure. A look at the past, present and future of an industry at the crossroads.
“I’m Not a Miner, I’m a Provider”
Onofre Tafoya spent 40 years moving the earth in an underground copper mine near Tucson. But it was more than hard work. It was the place where, as he says, he “became a man.”
Some Thrived, Some Died
Tracking the history of Arizona’s boom and bust towns. Bisbee and Globe survived, Helvetia and Ruby didn’t.
The Photos
Ray Mine Tailings
Waste rock piles, known as tailings, tower over the saguaro-laden desert near the Ray Mine. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
The Morenci Mine
The Morenci Mine in eastern Arizona is the largest open-pit copper mine in North America. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Ray Mine Pit and Trucks
A line of massive dump trucks is dwarfed by the immensity of the Ray Mine in eastern Arizona. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Rosemont Site
A plan to build a giant open-pit copper mine at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson has led to nearly ten years of legal wrangling. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Rosemont Open Pit Site
The proposal for the Rosemont copper mine southeast of Tucson calls for the heart of the open pit to be built at this spot. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Dead Downtown Superior
Downtown Superior, Arizona is deserted on a weekday. The town has long been subject to the boom and bust cycles of nearby copper mines and smelters. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
In Downtown Superior Arizona
A sign in a deserted building window in downtown Superior, Arizona. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Oak Flat
The Oak Flat area east of Superior is considered sacred ground to Native Americans. But copper mining companies have proposed building a vast underground mine here. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Copper Mine Model
The Arizona Mining Museum has a model of an open-pit copper mine, complete with “slag dump” and “reclamation slope.” (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Plastic Slag Dump Model
The copper mine model at the Arizona Mining Museum includes a little dump truck pouring hot slag into a pit. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Tailings Piles Above Sahuarita Arizona
Waste rock piles from the Mission and Pima Mines tower over a residential neighborhood in Sahuarita, Arizona. (Photo: Mark Duggan)
Ray Mine Operations
The Ray Mine southeast of Phoenix is one of the largest open-pit copper mines in North America. (Photo: Mark Duggan)