This industrial film covers the operation of two copper mines and the attendant onsite smelters: the open-pit mine at Morenci, Arizona, and the underground mine as Bisbee Arizona.
It goes into considerable detail about the operations, particularly the smelting of copper. On the plus side, it is thorough. On the down side, it uses a lot of technical jargon, some of which is explained, and some of which is not, producing a confusion in the mind of this reviewer about what I am expected to know and what I am not. Although it is clear that the smelting operations at the two mines are different, it takes a little thought on my part to understand the reason why: the Morenci mine produces just copper. The Bisbee mine, also produces gold and silver.
The Bisbee mine closed in 1975. The Morenci mine is still open, owned by Freeport MacMoRan.
It goes into considerable detail about the operations, particularly the smelting of copper. On the plus side, it is thorough. On the down side, it uses a lot of technical jargon, some of which is explained, and some of which is not, producing a confusion in the mind of this reviewer about what I am expected to know and what I am not. Although it is clear that the smelting operations at the two mines are different, it takes a little thought on my part to understand the reason why: the Morenci mine produces just copper. The Bisbee mine, also produces gold and silver.
The Bisbee mine closed in 1975. The Morenci mine is still open, owned by Freeport MacMoRan.