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Safford Mine

Producer in Graham county in Arizona, United States with commodities Copper, Gold, Molybdenum, Silver
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Alteration
  9. Mineral occurrence model information
  10. Host and associated rocks
  11. Nearby scientific data
  12. Geologic structures
  13. Ore body information
  14. Controls for ore emplacement
  15. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  16. Mining district
  17. Land status
  18. Ownership information
  19. Production statistics
  20. Reserves and resources
  21. Links to other databases
  22. Bibliographic references
  23. General comments
  24. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10400314
Record type Deposit
Current site name Safford Mine

Comments on the site identification

  • *******The Safford Mine contains: Dos Pobres Mine- Deposit ID 10096999
    San Juan Mine- Deposit ID 10027008
    Lone Star- Deposit ID 10209543
    *******SEE Associated Deposits:
    Sanchez Copper Deposit- Deposit ID 10026888
    Orginal-Safford Deposit-Deposit ID 10027031

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -109.6542, 32.9468 (WGS84)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Graham(county)

Arizona(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Weber Peak(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Safford(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Silver City(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Upper Gila-San Carlos Reservoir(hydrologic unit)

Upper Gila(hydrologic accounting unit)

Upper Gila(hydrologic subregion)

Lower Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Arizona Graham

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Gila and Salt River 005S;006S 026E Arizona

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Copper Primary
Gold Secondary
Molybdenum Tertiary
Silver Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Bornite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Chalcocite Ore
Chrysocolla Ore
Curite Ore
Malachite Ore
Molybdenite Ore
Pyrite Ore

Alteration

  • (Local) Hydrothermal, Oxidation

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 78
USGS model code 20c
Deposit model name Porphyry Cu-Au
Mark3 model number 34

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Granitoid > Quartz Monzonite
    Rock unit name San Juan Stock
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Eocene
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Volcanic Rock (Aphanitic) > Intermediate Volcanic Rock > Andesite
    Rock unit name Safford Meta-volcanics
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Mafic Intrusive Rock > Quartz Diorite
    Rock type qualifier Dike Swarms
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Eocene

Nearby scientific data

(1) -109.6542, 32.9468
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure name NW Striking Butte Fault
Type of structure Local
Structure name San Juan Shear Zone

Ore body information

  • General form Irregular and Massive

Controls for ore emplacement

  • NE Fractures and Dikes

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Producer
Significant Yes
Mining method Open Pit
Year of first production 2006

Mining district

District name Lone Star (Safford)

Land status

Ownership category Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc
    Home office Phoenix AZ 85004
    First year 2006
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Phelps Dodge Corp
    Last year 2006
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Kennecott
    Last year 1987

Production statistics

  • Year 2007
    Material Freeport-McMoRan 2009 10-K \nhttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=63811&p=irol-sec
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Primary Copper Copper 450mt
  • Year 2008
    Material Freeport-McMoRan 2009 10-K\nhttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=63811&p=irol-sec
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Primary Copper Copper 60300mt
  • Year 2009
    Material Freeport-McMoRan 2009 10-K\nhttp://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=63811&p=irol-sec
    Accuracy Accurate
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Primary Copper Copper 83500mt

Reserves and resources

  • Type Combined
    Name Safford crushed leach
    Estimate year 2009
    Reserves 243000000mt ore
    Remarks Freeport-McMoRan 2009 10-K, p. 33.\nhttp://www.fcx.com/ir/downloads/FCX_2009Form_10-K.pdf
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper 0.44 wt-pct Copper Primary 2009
  • Type Leaching
    Estimate year 2000
    Reserves 572000000mt ore
    Remarks Dos Pobres and San Juan deposits combined
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper 0.32 wt-pct Copper Primary 2000
  • Type In-situ
    Name Lone Star mineralized material
    Estimate year 2009
    Demonstrated 767000000mt ore
    Remarks Freeport-McMoRan 2009 10-K, p. 40.\nhttp://www.fcx.com/ir/downloads/FCX_2009Form_10-K.pdf
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper 0.44 wt-pct Copper Primary 2009
  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 2000
    Proved 300000000mt ore
    Remarks Dos Pobres deposit- primary sulfide material
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper 0.65 wt-pct Copper Primary 2000
  • Type In-situ
    Name Safford mineralized material
    Estimate year 2009
    Demonstrated 746000000mt ore
    Remarks Freeport-McMoRan 2009 10-K, p. 40.\nhttp://www.fcx.com/ir/downloads/FCX_2009Form_10-K.pdf
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Copper 0.43 wt-pct Copper Primary 2009
    Silver 1.4 g/mt Silver Tertiary 2009
    Molybdenum 4000 g/mt Molybdenum Tertiary 2009
    Gold 0.07 g/mt Gold Secondary 2009

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safford_Mine

  • Geology

    Langton J M, Williams S A 1982 - Structural, petrological and mineralogical controls for the Dos Pobres orebody, Lone Star Mining District, Graham County, Arizona: in Titley S R 1983 Advances in Geology of the Porphyry Copper Deposits, Southwestern North America University of Arizona Press, Tucson pp 335-352

  • Exploration

    Annual Review, 1996, Exploration overview, copper: Mining Engineering, May, p. 50.

  • Geology

    Lowell, J.D., 1989, Gold mineralization in porphyry copper deposits discussed: Mining Engineering, v. 41, no. 4, p. 227?231.

  • Geology

    Robinson, R.F., and Cook, A., 1966, The Safford copper deposit, Lone Star mining district, Graham County, Arizona, in Titley, S.R., and Hicks, C.L., eds., Geology of the porphyry copper deposits, southwestern North America: Tucson, University of Arizona Press

  • Geology

    Williams, S.A., and Forrester, J.D., 1995, Characteristics of porphyry copper deposits, in Pierce, F.W., and Bolm, J.G., eds., Porphyry copper deposits of the American Cordillera: Tucson, Arizona Geological Society Digest 20, p. 21?34.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
General The Safford Mine is an open-pit copper mine located in Graham County, Arizona, eight miles (13 km) north of the city of Safford. The mine is owned and operated by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold.
Construction on the Safford mine began in mid-2006. Production began December 26, 2007, with full production started in 2008. It is the first new large-scale copper mining project in Arizona in more than 30 years. In September of 2005, as part of the deal, Phelps Dodge (which was subsequently purchased by Freeport-McMoran) transferred 3,867 acres (15.65 km2) of "environmentally sensitive" land to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and purchased 16,297 acres (65.95 km2), located next to where the mine is located, from the BLM.
The mine composes two porphyry copper deposits (the San Juan and Dos Pobres copper ore bodies) that have leachable oxide and secondary sulfide mineralization. Freeport-McMoran estimates that it will remove 205 to 240 million pounds of copper from the deposits annually between 2008 and 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safford_Mine

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-AUG-09 W. D. Heran U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Operator history (post-MRDS)

MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:

  • Phelps Dodge Corp — acquired by Subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan (2007)
    Acquired by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold in 2007 in what was then the largest mining-industry deal ever (~US$26 B).

Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.

External references

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative Arizona resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.