The Ray Mine is located in eastern Pinal County, Arizona, about 80 miles southeast of the city of Phoenix. Ray consists of a large classical porphyry copper deposit.

Due to the site’s geography, the vast majority of the mine haulage operation involves lifting material out of the pit to the dumps or crushers (vertical hauls up to 1,800 ft.). The elevation change adds an additional complexity that must be accounted for to support communications, due to its depth.

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.