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2 January 2022
Copper is an indispensable metal in today’s high-tech world. It is a non-magnetic metal sought for its excellent thermal and electrical conductivity and good corrosion resistance and machinability. Its application covers a wide range of industries that uses this metal a great deal including energy, aerospace, transportation, and telecommunications.
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Although copper has been mined around the world for more than 6,000 years, it was only in the past 25 years that it became an important building block to the economy.
The United States became a major producer of copper by the end of the 19th century after the discovery of great deposits of the metal around Lake Superior in Michigan and in mines in Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada.
Gold sparked the mining boom in Arizona Territory, but other shiny metals helped the industry catch on here as well.
Prospectors who arrived in the area in the mid-1800s with dreams of striking it rich with gold quickly adapted to the more abundant copper and silver. These metals were sometimes more valuable than gold during the mining boom period.
It wasn’t easy living in a mining camp. Apart from the hard work, miners also had to deal with bands of robbers who wished to steal their hard-earned wealth.
Disease, floods, fires, and injuries were also constant threats. Three devastating fires struck Bisbee in a 23-year period starting in 1885. In 1908, three-quarters of the town was destroyed by fire.
Hundreds of people died from typhoid fever between 1888 and 1900.
Other people were also hell-bent on separating miners from their money, so they also had to endure (or enjoy, depending on your perspective) their attention.
Jerome, for example, became a hotbed of prostitution, gambling, and other vices. The New York Sun newspaper described it as the wickedest town in the West in an article on Feb. 5, 1903.
Arizona became the top copper producer in the US in 1910. Even today, the state continues to be the top producer with a copper output of approximately 68% of the copper produced in this country coming from Arizona mines.
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Arizona’s economy was built on 5 C’s – Copper, Cotton, Cattle, Climate, and Citrus. Arizona’s 5 C’s are finding markets throughout the United States. Of the products that are shipped to foreign countries counted as exports, copper ore tops Arizona’s 4 C’s exports.
Morenci is one of the greatest copper-producing mines in Arizona, which produces more than a third of the state total. Other large mining operations are Ray, Bagdad, Safford Mission, and Sierrita.
The mining industry is an important contributor to the state’s economy. In 2018, it provided a total economic impact of approximately $6.5 billion. In Arizona, an estimated 38,963 jobs are connected to mining in some way. The jobs in the mining industry pay an average wage of $102,859, more than twice that of all Arizona jobs.
The demand for copper is projected to increase even more in the future with the industrialization of China and India.
Arizona and its copper mining industry are expected to figure even more significantly in our economic development with a bright outlook from the continuing increase in industrialization in the world.
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