106 
MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
 During the first 6 months of the year, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co.
conducted full-scale test of plans for mining and leaching the Ox-Hide ore
body, small areas were mined, and dumps prepared and acid-leached. With earlier
projections confirmed, the property was prepared for production—~initial
grading for leach-dump areas and the design of plant facilities was begun.
Initially, the ore was to be mined at a rate of about 6,000 tons per day;
later the rate was to be increased to 12,000 tons. Estimates indicated that
about 3.8 pounds of copper was to be recovered per ton of ore treated. Tractor-rippers
were to be used for ground breaking, since little drilling and blasting were
required; selfloading scrapers were to transport broken ore to leach dumps.

 
 Gold.—The 43-percent decline in gold production reflected the lower
output of copper; gold production totaled 80,800 troy ounces. Eighty-three
percent, 66,900 ounces of gold, was recovered as a byproduct in the refining
of copper; 16 percent, 13,000 ounces, as a byproduct of lead-zinc ores; and
1 percent from other ores. Eight mining operations—Copper Queen, New
Cornelia, and Morenci Branches, Phelps Dodge Corp.; Iron King, Shattuck Denn
Mining Corp.; San Manuel, San Manuel Division, Magma, Superior Division,
Magma Copper Co.; Christmas, Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co.; and Ray,
Ray Mines Division, Kennecott Copper Corp.— furnished 98 percent of
the gold output. Phelps Dodge Corp., the largest producer, accounted for
59 percent of the output. 
 This firm's combined byproduct gold output, recovered from the refining
of copper totaled 48,000 ounces, compared with 87,000 ounces in 1966 and
96,000 ounces in 1965. Magma Copper Co., the second largest producer in the
State, also recovered gold as a byproduct of copper refining. Stipulated
in the annual report, the company produced 15,504 troy ounces of gold—10,534
ounces at the San Manuel Division and 4,970 ounces at the Superior Division
in Pinal County.1° Combined output from the two properties was 56 percent
below that of the previous year primarily because of lower tonnage of ore
milled and a lower gold content of the ore. 
 Shattuck Denn Mining Corp. recovered approximately 13,500 troy ounces of
gold 
from lead-zinc ores obtained from the Iron King mine in Yavapai County. 
 
 Iron Ore.—Production of iron ore in Arizona increased significantly
during the year because of the threefold increase in the tonnage of ore mined
and shipped from the Apache mine for testing by CF&I Steel Corp. The
Apache deposit, east of Young on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, is held
by the company under lease from the Apache Indian tribe. Chas. Pfizer &
Co., Inc., produced hematite ore -for use as a paint pigment from the Cowden
mine, near Seligman, Yavapai County. Of special interest to the mining community
was the recent announcement11 by Sovereign industries, Inc., that it h-ad
acquired rights to the Black Mountain magnetite ore deposits in Pinal County,
together with the mining equipment and metallurgical facilities at Coolidge.
The company announced plans to operate the Black Mountain deposit and the
hydrogen plant at Coolidge. This operation was in conjunction with a new
reduction furnace for the output of 20,000 tons of sponge iron pellets per
year for sale to the mining companies, for the precipitation of cement copper.
Scheduled to begin production in August 1968, the plant also had a designed
capacity to produce 10,000 tons per year of metallurgicalgrade iron powder.
Sovereign also planned to operate the electric steelmaking facilities at
Coolidge and to transfer to this site a small rolling mill from Philadelphia,
Pa. Reportedly, the company was also considering plans to produce 2 to 5
million tons of iron pellets per year, for shipment by unit train to western
and gulf steel mills, as well as for the Japanese market. 
 
 Lead.—Output of lead recovered from ores mined in the State totaled
4,771 short tons, 8 percent below that of 1966. Most of the output was from
lead-zinc ores produced at the Iron King mine, 20 miles west of Prescott,
by Shattuck Denn Mining Corp., and concentrated in the company mill. Concentrates
from the mill were shipped to the Asarco smelters at Amarillo and El Paso,
Tex. Continental Materials Corp., the second largest producer, mined zinc
ores from the CWT mine in Pima 
 
 10 Magma Copper Co. Annual Report, 1967, pp. 7—8. 
 11 Skilhings' Mining Review. Sovereign Iron Ore and Steel Projects in Arizona.
V. 56, No. 48, Dec. 2, 1967, P. 16.