Copper Anode Flat Cars

SP's operations in Arizona and New Mexico served many of the copper mines and smelters of the region. To transport the dense slabs of copper anodes, the SP either had built or modified flat cars special for the task. Below is a list in progress of cars assigned to this service.

Photo by: Tom Fassett    F-100-17

The following is an essay by Tom Fassett on the copper mining and smelting operations in Arizona and New Mexico:

Copper anodes used to come from scores of smelters all over Arizona. Now, with the price of South American copper being so cheap, most of the mines and smelters have shut down or cut back operations drastically. Due to defense considerations, the government will not allow them all to shut down and subsidizes a minimum limit of copper production domestically (by buying at a higher price from domestic producers). The two biggest remaining mine/smelter operations that I know of are the Ray mine, near Kelvin, AZ, which ships raw ore over the Copper Basin Railway to the smelter at Hayden, AZ, and the big Phelps Dodge operation in Morenci, AZ. There are other mines still operating but many of them are "mothballed" waiting for copper prices to recover.

The active mines and movement of copper in South and Central Arizona (that I know of) is as follows:

Ray Mine - ASARCO Mining: 250,000 tons raw material mined per day, converted to 30,000 tons concentrated copper ore at the mine site. Concentrated ore from the Ray Mine moves to the smelter at Hayden over the Copper Basin Railway, which is wholly owned by ASARCO Mining. The Copper Basin Railway operates over what used to be the Southern Pacific Hayden Branch. The smelter has a 26,000 ton per day concentrator and a 720,000 ton per year copper smelter with an oxygen flash furnace. Finished copper anodes from the Hayden Smelter are then transported to Magma, Arizona over the Copper Basin Railway, which then hands the anode loaded flats off to the Union Pacific (ex SP Phoenix Line). The Copper Basin RY also moves tankers of Sulphuric Acid (a by-product of the smelting operation) from the smelter to the leaching facilities and also to Magma to be shipped/sold elsewhere on the UP. The cars are picked up at Magma by the UP Phoenix Local and taken to Picacho, Arizona. From Picacho, they enter the mainline and are taken to Tucson where they are grouped with other anode cars. They are then shipped to ASARCO's Amarillo Copper Refinery in Amarillo, Texas.

Morenci Mine - Phelps Dodge Mining: The Morenci mine complex is the largest in North America, and second in the world only to the mine complex owned by Codelco, the Chilean Government owned copper mining entity. The Morenci facility currently includes the 100,000 ton per day Morenci concentrator (with a molybdenum circuit, making Phelps Dodge the world's largest Molybdenum producer), and the 40,000 ton per day Metcalf concentrator (due to be shut down, with only its crusher still operating). Raw ore is moved within the mine by truck, then taken to the processing units on the Phelps Dodge Railway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Phelps Dodge Mining which runs throughout the mine complex and between Morenci and Clifton. Cars of finished copper anodes are then handed over to the Union Pacific at Clifton, transported down the (ex SP) UP Clifton Branch to Lordsburg, New Mexico and on to Deming, New Mexico. From there?

Miami Mine - Phelps Dodge Mining: The Miami Mine has a 650,000 ton per year smelter, a 190,000 ton per year capacity electrolytic refinery and a 135,000 ton per year rod plant. The Miami Smelter also handles the refining of concentrated ore from other mines. Miami is one of the few pure copper mining operations. Raw ore from the Miami Mine is transported by trucks and a small railroad switching operation within the mine. Raw ore from other mines is transported to the smelter by the Arizona Eastern Railroad, which is now part of RailAmerica. The Arizona Eastern operates on what used to be the Southern Pacific Globe Branch. The finished anodes are switched out of the smelter by the Arizona Eastern switching operations in Claypool (two SW1200s). They are then picked up by the Arizona Eastern Road units and transported to Bowie, Arizona. There, they are handed off to the Union Pacific and taken to Deming, New Mexico. From there?

Sierrita Mine - Phelps Dodge Mining (formerly Cyprus Mining): The Sierrita Mine contains a 115,000-ton-per-day concentrator, two molybdenum roasting plants, a ferromolybdenum plant, and a rhenium plant. It is the single largest producer of Molybdenum in Arizona, and one of the largest rhenium producers in the world. Due to low copper prices brought on by the huge government owned mines in Chile (which do not have the safety of environmental requirements American Mines do), The Sierrita operation was cut back significantly in the area of copper production. Most of its copper output is shipped as concentrated ore to be smelted elsewhere. The Sierrita Mine complex is connected to the Twin Buttes Mine which has railroad spurs that connect to the Union Pacific (ex SP) UP Nogales Branch at Sahuarita, Arizona. Cars are then taken to The main yard at Tucson and grouped with others from Central Arizona and shipped east.

Mines currently "mothballed" (Care, security and maintenance only):

San Manuel Mine - San Manuel, AZ - BHP Mining: Served by the San Manuel RR, with connections to the Copper Basin Railway at Hayden, AZ.

New Cornelia Mine - Ajo, AZ - Phelps Dodge Mining (may be reactivated in the near future--rail line?): Served by the abandoned Tucson, Cornelia and Gila Bend Railroad with connections to the (ex SP) UP at Gila Bend, AZ.

Lone Star, Dos Pobres and San Juan Deposits - Safford, AZ - Phelps Dodge Mining (still in feasibility and permit stages): Served by the Arizona Eastern RR with connections to the (ex SP) UP mainline at Bowie, AZ

The mines in the southeastern part of the state seem to be in various stages of mothballing, shutting down and outright abandonment. These are the mines in the Douglas, Naco, Sierra Vista and Bisbee areas, to name a few. These mines provided most of the local ore haulage for the old Southern Pacific Douglas (or South) Line. I know Bisbee was one of the last to survive as it was still operating in the late 1970s. I do not know what is going on down there now and have not been able to obtain much information. This area is served by the ex San Pedro & Southwestern Railway, which was just acquired by RailAmerica. It is the former SP Douglas branch out of Benson, AZ. I was going to stop in there last week on my way back from New Mexico and see what was going on but the office was closed. I had to settle for a visit with old KYLE GP20 #2039, ex SSW 4143, which seems to be the only power left on the property. I also noticed that RailAmerica donated the bay window caboose (SP #4630) that the SPSW had on the property. It now sits with a fresh coat of paint in the "Railroad Park" next to the restored depot in downtown Benson. Unfortunately, they left off the number when they repainted it. I can see a whole lot of future posts on the internet by SP junkies trying to figure out what its number was and where it came from... ;- )

Back to Main Page