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Location: 12 km N from Safford, Arizona, United States
3443 E U.S. Hwy 70SaffordArizona, United States85546
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The Safford mine includes three copper deposits that have oxide mineralization overlaying primary copper sulfide mineralization. The predominant oxide copper minerals are chrysocolla and copper-bearing iron oxides with the predominant copper sulfide material being chalcopyrite.
Safford mine is an open-pit copper mining complex that has been in operation since 2007. The operation consists of three open pits. The only Safford deposit currently being mined is Lone Star, which began leaching operations in the second half of 2020 and production from oxide ores averaged 265 million pounds of copper per year over the past three years.Freeport continues to advance plans at Safford/Lone Star to increase volumes to achieve 300 million pounds of copper per year from oxide ores, which reflects expansion of the initial design capacity of 200 million pounds of copper per year. Positive drilling conducted in recent years indicates opportunities to expand production to include sulfide ores in the future. Company is completing metallurgical testing and mine development planning and expect to commence pre-feasibility studies during 2024 for a potentially significant expansion.The available mining fleet consists of fifty-nine 235-metric-ton haul trucks loaded by 7 electric shovels with bucket sizes ranging from 34 to 47 cubic meters, which are capable of moving an average of 408,000 metric tons of material per day.he highest bench elevation is 1,783 meters above sea level and the ultimate pit bottom is expected to have an elevation of 716 meters above sea level.
Safford is a mine-for-leach operation that produces copper cathode. The operation consists of three open pits, of which one (Lone Star) is currently being mined, feeding a crushing facility with a design capacity of 103,500 metric tons of ore per day. The crushed ore is delivered to a leach pad by a series of overland and portable conveyors. Leach solutions feed a SX/EW facility with a capacity of 305 million pounds of copper per year. A sulfur burner plant is also in operation at Safford, providing a cost-effective source of sulfuric acid used in SX/EW operations. Sulfuric acid is used in the SX/EW process and is produced as a by-product of the smelting process at our smelters and from sulfur burners at the Safford mine.
Over the course of the past several years, FreeportMcMoRan has studied the use of lower quality water at its Safford operation. Since the mine began producing in 2007, the company has been using a high-quality confined groundwater source. However, it was identified a lower quality, briny water source located much deeper and separated by an extensive clay layer in the Lower Basin Fill Aquifer. This water source is not desirable for the local community or agricultural water users. As a result, in 2018, Freeport-McMoRan began transitioning the Safford mine to this lower quality water source.
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