Inspiration

ARIZONA LEADS THE NATION IN THE PRODUCTION OF COPPER. INDUSTRY VITAL IN WARTIME, PEACE. HERE IS THE STORY OF A LARGE PRODUCER: The Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company at Inspiration, in the Globe-Miami district of Arizona, is one of the world's important producers of copper. During two World Wars this mine has made a vital contribution of essential red metal to our Nation's war effort. Today, with Industry U.S.A. achieving prodigious production volume and with war-torn Europe re-building, world need for copper is greater than ever before. Inspiration, with other great mines in Arizona, is helping to answer that need.

Copper has been described as the metal of war, because copper alloys form so many of the tools of war. But copper is essentially the metal of peace with these qualities: low electrical resistivity, high electrical and thermal conductivity, ductility, toughness, machinability, malleability, softness and resistance to corrosion. Copper, with zinc, tin, aluminum, nickel, lead or silicon forming the various copper alloys, acquires high tensile strength, hardness and susceptibility to heat treatment.

With the advent of the age of electricity (about the beginning of this century) copper came into its own. It has the greatest electrical conductivity of all metals, except silver. No matter who you are or where you are, if you live in a civilized society, copper is your servant. It serves you when you use your toaster in the morning, it serves you all through the day, in home, office, or factory, and when you read in bed at night, it serves you. That shining sterling silver table set you are so proud of when you have "company" to dinner is 7.2 per cent copper. Your beautiful 18-carat gold bracelet is 18 parts gold A view of the International Smelter at Miami, Arizona, one of America's most important copper-producing centers.

COLOR BY HERB MCLAUGHLIN The Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company at Miami is fabulous producer. This mine has served America in two wars.

Men and machinery, under smart management, must attain perfect teamwork to make a low-grade ore pay as it does at the Inspiration.

The Leaching Plant (above) plays major part in processing ore into copper. Left picture shows part of ore body mined below surface.

Mining by block caving at Inspiration means large tonnage, low costs. Miner (left) is at work on grizzly drift above 600-foot level.

Surface shovel mining has been started at Inspiration in past year. This "open pit" operation adds greatly to output of mine.

To six parts copper. Those dimes. quarters or silver dollars (you lucky person!) jingling in your pocket are ten per cent copper. In countless ways copper makes your life more pleasant, more comfortable, safer, better appointed. Some of the copper in your life, however distant you may be from the hills from which it is won, comes from Inspiration.

Inspiration is one of the porphyry coppers. Such mines have large, low-grade ore bodies with copper minerals more or less uniformly distributed throughout the mass. The Arizona poryhyry mines Inspiration, Miami, Morenci, New Cornelia, and Ray-have been developed since the second decade of this century. Improved mining methods and methods of extraction have made these mines profitable. From their ore bodies-once considered hopeless waste-there has been produced since 1915 some $2,000,000,000 in mineral wealth. Their billions of pounds of copper have helped make our Nation great and self-sufficient. The billions of pounds of copper these mines will produce in the years to come will add to the greatness of our Nation.

While as early as 1895 prospectors were gophering in the hills a few miles to the northwest of the present-day town of Miami, the presence of a large deposit of copper ore in the area had not been recognized. Two early prospectors, J. B. Coplen and Bud Woodson, had located ground which made up the first claims of the original Inspiration Mining Company, which was organized in 1908. These were the days when the great porphyry coppers were coming into the picture. Such properties required engineering and financial genius in their development and, in the case of Inspiration. in the formative stage, such genius was supplied by Henry Krumb, Col. Wm. Boyd Thompson, and his associates, George E. Gunn, together with John D. Ryan of the Anaconda Company, who had become interested in the Live Oak Development Company, which controlled property west of Inspiration holdings. In March of 1912 a consolidation of Inspiration and Live Oak properties was affected and the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company was formed, with Anaconda interests in control of the company. At that time engineers of the two merging companies estimated that the total available ore in the two properties would amount to apElectric shovel scoops ore into large trucks in "open pit" operation. After short haul, trucks dump ore into primary crusher. Inspiration's surface operations began this year. Such mining will augment, not replace, underground mining.

Inspiration's ore is treated in leaching plant, which handles 10,000 tons each day. Six and half million gallons of solution containing acid are in constant motion.

Approximately 45,300,000 tons of ore which would assay in the neighborhood of 2% copper. Later, in 1914, the Keystone property lying between Inspiration and Live Oak was acquired and other smaller adjoining properties have also been purchased. Today the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company owns about 1,870 acres of ground.

On and under these acres some $20,000,000, a truly fabulous sum in those days, had to be invested before a single pound of copper was won. A mine plant was built, shafts were sunk and haulage levels were driven out into the ore body to permit of its mining. A crushing plant, a railroad, a concentrator, and a smelting plant all had to be constructed so that the mined ore could be treated and the red metal content recovered. Another vast industrial organization began its distinguished contribution to mining history. The Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company began to function.

The good Lord is responsible for ore deposits but, as has been said by A. B. Parsons in his brilliant book, "The Porphyry Coppers," "mines are made by the genius of men." The genius of many men has made and continues to make Inspiration. Among so many it is only possible to mention a few and No article on mining in Arizona would be complete without mention of Dr. L. D. Ricketts, who came to Inspiration as consulting engineer in 1912. For 15 years thereafter, until retiring as president of the company in 1927, Dr. Ricketts guided the destinies of Inspiration. Around him he had able colleagues in the persons of Wm. D. Thornton, now president of Inspiration, Wm. Wraith, C. E. Mills, and Tom O'Brien.

From the start Inspiration has achieved notable success in the mining of its ore body. Cheap methods of mining were essential. This could be obtained only by mining on a large scale with a minimum of handling. The adoption of block caving methods achieved such results and in this respect In-spiration for many years has been a standard in the industry. In the mining of the 115,500,000 tons handled throughout the life of Inspiration to date, it has been necessary to drive 470 miles of openings deep in the ground, reaching out to develop and extract the ore. The cumulative distance, by the way, is almost equal to the distance between Inspiration, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California.

But now times have changed and the grade of ore remaining in the mine today is not what it was. The cream has been skimmed. To meet conditions of decreased grade and increased labor costs, further economies became necessary and within only the last two years plans were made to go into "Open Pit" mining at Inspiration. Such mining will augment, not replace, underground mining and will be applicable in certain portions of the ore body remaining to be mined. Open Pit mining involves mining of the ore with large electric shovels and the transportation of the mined ore in large 25-ton trucks to a new primary crusher plant, erected in connection with the Pit development.

In the beginning, back in 1915, all Inspiration ore was treated by the process of flotation concentration, utilizing a mill built to handle 20,000 tons per day. However, the flotation process is not effective in the recovery of oxidized copper minerals. This was early recognized and work was soon started to develop some better process of recovery. Experimental work in leaching progressed and by 1924 it had been decided to build a Leaching Plant at Inspiration, to replace the concentrator, in which the mixed ore so characteristic of Inspiration could be effectively treated. The plant was built and since 1926, all Inspiration ore has been so treated.

In the leaching process the ore is finely crushed and charged into large leaching vats. Then solutions, containing sulphuric acid to dissolve the oxide copper, and ferric sulphate To dissolve the sulphide copper, are percolated up through the ore mass. After eight days of leaching the copper values have been dissolved from the ore and put into solution. The tailing, or barren waste material, is further washed to extract the last trace of copper in solution and is then excavated from the tanks and sent out to the tailings dump some two miles away in side dump railroad cars. The building and control of a tailings dump, expanding at the rate of 10,000 tons per day, is in itself no mean task.

Following leaching, copper-bearing solutions are transferred to the electrolytic tank house, where the copper is recovered by electrolysis. In this vast building electric power, in an amount in excess of eight million kilowatt hours per month, is utilized to precipitate copper from solution in the form of cathodes. Cathode copper is extremely pure, running better than 99.92% copper. However, in order to satisfy market requirements the pure cathodes are shipped to the Raritan Copper Works at Perth Amboy, N. J., for casting.

Since the inception of operations, Inspiration has mined some 115,500,000 tons of ore from which has been recovered approximately two and one quarter billion pounds of copper. In accomplishing this, Arizona workmen have received in wages from the company approximately $84,250,000. The State of Arizona, Gila County, and local school districts have collected in property taxes some $15,500,000. In addition, vast sums have been paid in Federal and State income taxes and State Sales Taxes. Tremendous sums also were expended for supplies and power, much of benefit to Arizona.

Yes, indeed, a big mine is a big business. The number of people who have benefited and profited because of Inspiration is incalculable. Eleven hundred fifty employees receive now $350,000 in monthly wages. Merchants in Miami, Globe, and other cities in Arizona benefit from that business. Lumbermen in Oregon, whose timber is used underground, profit. Railroad men who haul in supplies and haul out copper benefit. Thousands of people in all parts of the country-many of whom have never even heard of Inspiration-contribute in skills and goods and receive monetary bentfits in exchange.

Inspiration has been the largest contractor of power of the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association, a mutually, beneficial arrangement that has extended through the years. Inspiration has helped build not only dams that are an integral part of one of the largest irrigation systems in the world, but has helped build Arizona. In years to come this mine will continue to be an important part of Arizona's economy.-R. C.