Copper at the Crossroads

Arizona has been a leading copper producer for more than a century. But the metals market is volatile. Those years have been marked by cycles of fortune and failure and boom and bust.

Copper at the Crossroads is a 3-part radio documentary examining the past, present, and future of Arizona’s copper mining industry.

The series aired in 2011 on Tucson NPR station KUAZ-FM.

Executive Producer/Reporter: Mark Duggan

Stories

Some thrived, some died

Tracking the history of Arizona’s boom and bust towns. Bisbee and Globe survived, Helvetia and Ruby didn’t.

“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.”

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.

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 mine proposed open pit location

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)