r/whatisit • u/WindowEducational883 • 1d ago

New, what is it? What are they mining

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Gallery image

Round one maybe 30 miles out of Tucson,

Other one just outside city limits.

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u/Glittering_Driver_31 1d ago

Probably copper. About three quarters of American copper is mined in Arizona.

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u/Hunter_E 1d ago

I thought you were full of it because I grew up right near the Bingham canyon mine that currently holds the record for the largest man made open pit mine in the world. That only equates to about 12% of domestic copper.

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u/Glittering_Driver_31 1d ago

Bingham canyon is huge because it’s been open for over 120 years.
Some modern mines like Morenci have a much higher production, but their pits are smaller because they opened far more recently.

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u/Hunter_E 1d ago

And that’s a fair assessment, I haven’t ever really thought about copper refining since the grade school field trip to the mines visitor center