April 5, 2016 Apache Junction, Az.

       April 5, 2016 Tuesday:  Another hot day in the desert, we are headed to Apache Junction and we are looking for a copper mine  on the way,  that our friends in Mammoth told us about.The Ray Mine represents one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and in the world, starting in1883. One of the guests that was at our big BBQ worked at the mine some time ago and he told us that there is a gold vein that runs through the mine and when the mine runs out of money, for expenses,  they mined the gold to cover the expenses of running the mine, the copper is all profit.
They mine two types of ore; Oxide ore and Sulfide ore. First the ore is drilled, then blasted, then loaded into haul trucks and delivered to the proper location. For every ton of ore they must move two ton of waste rock. Sulfide ore is two-thirds of the ore of the total production. The rock is crushed here and loaded into 100 ton train cars and sent to the Hayden Concentrator. The ore is concentrated and smelted to remove the copper from the ore.
Oxide ore must be leached to recover the copper A solution of water and diluted Sulfuric acid is applied to the leach dump. The bottom picture is the leach dump.  The copper is electrolytically precipitated from the solution.
       In 2014 the mine employed 1417 employees with wages, salaries and fringe benefits of  $139.3 million. Mining began by  underground methods which continued through the early 1960's. The Mine's dimensions  currently measure approximately 2.5 miles long by 1.5 miles wide. The highest mining point to date is the 3,000-foot elevation and the lowest mined area is the 800-foot elevation above sea level.  The life of the mining operation is currently 34 years.