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Resolution Copper shaft is deepest in North America
Arizona Geology ^ | 11/27/2014 | Lee Allison

Posted on 12/03/2014 10:11:45 AM PST by JimSEA

Shaft #10 at the Resolution Copper mine in Superior reached its final depth of 6,943 feet (2,116 m). The 28-foot diameter shaft is the deepest single lift shaft in North America, according to the company. [Right top, bottom of shaft #10. Photo credit, Resolution Copper]

The Resolution mine would produce an estimated 25% of the nation's copper for the next 40 years once it's completed. [Right bottom, headframe for shaft #10. Photo credit, Nyal Niemuth]

"The completion of this 1.3 mile deep vertical shaft is truly unprecedented in North America,” said Tom Goodell, General Manager of Shaft Development for the Resolution project. “The safe completion of the project represents a great engineering achievement, and I am particularly proud of the team -- made up mostly of miners from this area -- who made it happen.”

Development of the underground is dependent on a land exchange that needs Congressional approval.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Science
KEYWORDS: arizona; copper; magma; michigan; mining; resolutionmine; riotinto; superior
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The Feds are still holding this project up. It would be a very significant number of jobs and rescue for the disintegrating town of Superior. I was born and worked there in the old portion of the mine. Emotionally I'd sure like to see this go ahead. The rock and, of course, water temperature at the 6900 level is 189 degrees F. The older mine where my Dad worked some 40 years was hot at 145 F. The older mine pioneered cooling and ventilation technology in underground mining beginning around 1907.
1 posted on 12/03/2014 10:11:45 AM PST by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA

They have some good videos on their mining technique at:

http://resolutioncopper.com/the-project/underground-mining/


2 posted on 12/03/2014 10:16:07 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: thackney
Resolution Copper shaft is deepest in North America

It can't begin to compare with the shaft we are being given by both the political parties in concert with a Marxist president. JMHO!

3 posted on 12/03/2014 10:19:42 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Don Corleone

I was thinking of deep oil wells, but yours is even bigger!


4 posted on 12/03/2014 10:21:01 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: JimSEA

Imagine an economy where the FedGov didn’t impede everything it touched. How in Gods green earth could operations a mile underground disturb anybody?


5 posted on 12/03/2014 10:21:45 AM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: DesertRhino
How in Gods green earth could operations a mile underground disturb anybody?

Said the hydro-fracturing crew...

6 posted on 12/03/2014 10:24:37 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: JimSEA
The Feds are still holding this project up.

If I had a dollar for every time I spoke those exact words......the feds would tax me into poverty.

In all seriousness, congress should have no say over projects entirely within a state's borders. Approval or disapproval of the keystone pipeline should be entirely up to the states it would cross. Directional drilling under the great lakes should be up to the states bordering the lakes (Canada already drills under the lakes)
7 posted on 12/03/2014 10:24:44 AM PST by cripplecreek (You can't half ass conservatism.)
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To: JimSEA

Will Obama condemn this polluting exploitation of America’s underground treasures, take credit for this American accomplishment under his watch, or say “You didn’t build that.”


8 posted on 12/03/2014 10:27:03 AM PST by Rainier1789 (My Constitution has a 2nd and 10th Amendment)
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To: thackney

When I was at Superior, stope mining was the time tested technique. However, over half of my career was spent at San Manuel, also part of Magma Copper at that time. Block caving was the mining method used there until the oxide ore was leached in the subsidence zone. It was kind of weird looking down at the foundations of homes I’d visited and played at in Red Hill slipping lower and lower in the cave zone. Resolution, like San Manuel did, is going after the porphyry deposit.


9 posted on 12/03/2014 10:28:58 AM PST by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA

Feds are also holding up nuclear waste isolation in Nevada, as long as Harry Reid is their senator.

Instead, spent fuel sits in unsafe swimming pool storage at plants around the country. Unsafe as in Japanese nuclear plant unsafe. Fuel storage is as much a risk as the reactor containment.


10 posted on 12/03/2014 10:30:22 AM PST by cicero2k
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To: DesertRhino

Actually, the block caving operation will cause a subsidence zone at the surface. They will be caving the ore body down into haulage levels and taking the ore from the bottom.


11 posted on 12/03/2014 10:31:35 AM PST by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA

—interesting—unless hoist cable spec’s have changed , that depth with single lift is getting close to the limit of a safety factor of 6, IIRC——


12 posted on 12/03/2014 10:35:37 AM PST by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the media or government says about firearms or explosives--)
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To: thackney

fascinating. great pot.
i wonder how the cooling is done? do the miners wear special suits or is the entire mine cooled? and what about the equip? operating at 180 degrees?


13 posted on 12/03/2014 10:37:34 AM PST by beebuster2000
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To: cicero2k

—and thanks to many years of anti-nuke propaganda in the Nevada media, getting Yucca Mountain going again will precipitate a political battle like Nevada has never seen before-—


14 posted on 12/03/2014 10:38:35 AM PST by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the media or government says about firearms or explosives--)
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To: rellimpank

Yeah, a single lift surprised me. The original mine had numerous sub levels and, by chasing the high grade veins, looked like a rabbits warren. The old and new mines have a lot of big differences. The source of the copper was in the porphyry deposit but the high grade was in hydrothermal veins. Bornite was a common ore and, at 65% was directly smelted after bringing the grade down actually.


15 posted on 12/03/2014 10:44:35 AM PST by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA; thackney

—fascinating—having spent the most productive part of my life as a miner and boss at the Climax mine in Colorado—


16 posted on 12/03/2014 10:47:34 AM PST by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the media or government says about firearms or explosives--)
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To: JimSEA

Thank you for this.


17 posted on 12/03/2014 10:52:38 AM PST by machogirl
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To: JimSEA

That’s a beautiful area, Picketpost Mountain, etc.


18 posted on 12/03/2014 11:05:04 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (Doctrine doesn't change. The trick is to find a way around it.)
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To: JimSEA
Several years ago, when I was in Phoenix for Spring training, I recall a fascinating article in the Arizona Republic about a planned copper mine that a.) would mine an ore body located below an existing ore body and b.) was so deep, it would have to be operated by robots.

Is this the mine they were writing about?

19 posted on 12/03/2014 11:06:34 AM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: okie01

Yes. That’s the one.


20 posted on 12/03/2014 11:23:26 AM PST by JimSEA
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