ASARCO Ray Mine

USA / Arizona / Kearny /
 mine, copper mine, mining
The Ray Mine is one of the world's largest open pit copper mines. The mine was started in 1952 by the Kennecott Copper Corporation, on the site of the towns of Ray and Sonora. The mine was purchased by ASARCO in 1986.

The Ray Operations consists of a 250,000 ton/day open pit mine with a 30,000 ton/day concentrator, a 103 million pound/year solvent extraction-electrowinning operation, and associated maintenance, warehouse and administrative facilities. Cathode copper produced in the SX-EW operation is shipped to outside customers and the Asarco Amarillo Copper Refinery.

A local railroad, Copper Basin Railway, transports ore from the mine to the Hayden concentrator, concentrate from the Ray concentrator to the smelter, and sulphuric acid from the smelter to the leaching facilities.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asarco
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   33°9'54"N   110°58'58"W

Comments

  • I was out for a Sunday drive and came over a hill to see a HUGE hole in the earth, quit impressive.
  • Just saw this for the first time last weekend. The scale of it is incredible. The large dump trucks with the 10 or 15 foot tall tires from the 177 look like ants.
This article was last modified 10 years ago