78  ARIZONA—1992essential ingredient of modern living. The average
American will consume 1,500 pounds of copper in her or his lifetime. We unthinkingly
live and work in buildings equipped with copper wiring and copper pipes,
punch a button to turn on a television or stereo, or use telephones, computers,
and Fax machines—technologies that would not be available without
copper
or the mines that produce it. Arizona continued to be the Nation's premier
copper-producing State, a lead it has maintained for more than 80 years.
State production for 1992 totaled 1. 15 million metric tons valued at $2.73
billion. Arizona's output and value rose 13 % and 1 1 % , respectively. During

1992, domestic copper consumption grew by 7.5 % , a rise aided by a decline
in interest rates and a 20% surge in U.S. housing starts. Sluggish domestic
and world economies, however, continued to affect copper prices. Western
World refmed copper rose in 1992 by 2% to about 9.8 million short tons; copper
consumption, however, was unchanged at 9.9 million short tons. The average
Commodity Exchange (Comex) spot copper price during 1992 dropped to $1.03,
compared to $1.05 per pound in 
1991 and $1.19 per pound in 1990. 
 Of the country's top 25 copper mines in 1992, 16 were in Arizona. Copper
production occured from 8 of Arizona's 15 counties in 1991, with Greenlee,
Pinal, and Pima Counties (in decreasing order of production) leading the
list. Four major companies mined copper in Arizona during 1992: Phelps Dodge
Corp., headquartered in Phoenix and having operations in Greenlee and Cochise
Counties; Cyprus Minerals Co., with operations in Gila, Mohave, Pima, Pinal,
and Yavapai Counties; Magma Copper Co. , headquartered in Tucson and having
operations in Gila and Pinal Counties; and Asarco, with operations in Pima
and Pinal Counties. Smaller copper-producing firms included A.F. Budge Ltd.
(Yavapai County), Arimetco International Inc. (Cochise and Mohave Counties),
and Oracle Ridge Mining Partners (Pinal County). Magma Gold Co. (Yavapai
County) also recovered copper as a byproduct of precious-metal 
mining. Virtually all of Arizona's primary copper operations were open pit
mines except for the San Manuel (the underground portion), Superior (Magma
Mine), Casa Grande, and Oracle Ridge. 
 Phelps Dodge Corp. remained Arizona's leading copper company and was the
second largest producer of copper in the world (after state-owned Codelco
in Chile). "PD" operated the Morenci complex (Greenlee County)
and Copper
Queen Mine (Cochise County). 
 The gem in Phelps Dodge's portfolio continued to be Morenci, the largest
copper mine in the United States and the second largest in the world (after
Codelco-Chile's Chuquicamata Mine). The Morenci facility included the Morenci,
Metcalf, and Northwest Extension open pits; two concentrators; and three
solvent extraction units and an electrowining tankhouse(the Morenci SXEW
facility is now the largest in the world). Phelps Dodge owned 85 % of the
Morenci operation; the remaining 15% was held by Sumitomo Metal Mining of
Arizona (a jointly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mining Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo
Corp.). Morenci employed 2, 100 people. Phàlps Dodge reported
the
mine surpassed its 1991 production record by 14% to yield 353,000 metric
tons (389,000 short tons), which, incidentally, was more than one-third of
State copper production and more than one-fifth of U.S. production. Coupled
with this output record was an outstanding safety record: more than 3.3 million
employee-hours without a losttime accident. The company completed construction
of the $1 12 million Northwest Extension project in May, a feat that increased
Morenci's already colossal output by 154,000 metric tons (170,000 short tons).
The company reentered the MetcalfMine (abandoned in 1980 because of a high
stripping ratio) and successfully extended and relocated an in-pit ore crusher-conveyor
system. The new system will permit deeper mining at the Morenci pit and the
resumption of mining at Metcalf. Additionally, Phelps Dodge continued its
feasibility studies for mining the Coronado deposit at Morenci, which 
contains 160 million metric tons (180 millon short tons) of sulfide mineralization
grading 0.71 % copper and 270 million metric tons (300 million short tons)
ofleachable material grading 0.29% copper. 
 Phelps Dodge also continued to operate the Copper Queen Mine (Cochise County),
which consisted of a copper precipitate operation at the mined-out Lavender
pit. The mine, near Bisbee, produced 1,300 metric tons (1 ,400 short tons)
in 1992. Phelps Dodge Corp. also began preparing an environmental impact
statement and filed permits for a 154million-metric-ton(170-million-short-ton)

leachable copper deposit at Bisbee. 
 Phelps Dodge continued to pursue several exploration properties, including
the Cochise project near Bisbee and the Dos Pobres and Lone Star deposits
near Safford. Cochise, if developed, could produce in excess of 36,000 metric
tons (40,000 short tons) of copper for 10 years. Drilling at Dos Pobres.
increased reserves to 245 million metric tons (270 million short tons) grading
0.46% leachable mineralization and 210 million metric tons (230 million short
tons) of sulfide material grading 0. 89 % copper. Adjacent to Dos Pobres
is the company's Lone Star deposit, which contained, by company estimates,
1.45 billion metric tons (1.6 billion short tons) of leachable material grading
0.38 % copper. 
 Cyprus Minerals Co. , a subsidiary of 
Amoco Corp. until 1985, continued to be 
Arizona's second largest copper 
producer. During 1992, after furloughing 
1 15 workers of a staff of 550 at its 
Denver-area headquarters, Cyprus Copper 
Co. relocated its office from the 
Englewood, CO, to Tempe. Cyprus' 
Arizona properties included its open pit 
Sierrita/Twin Buttes, Bagdad, Miami 
(formerly called Inspiration), Casa 
Grande, and Mineral Park. 
 Cyprus Minerals Co. reported corporatewide higher 1992 copper output, which
it attributed to a production increase at Sierrita-Twin Buttes (Pima County).
Output from these two adjacent mines, which Cyprus treats as a unit, was
13 1 ,000 metric tons (144,500 short tons), 5,900 metric tons (6,500 short
tons)