Mother of a Metal: The history and future of Resolution Copper’s Superior Mine
by Keridwen Cornelius | Phoenix Magazine
Diego Ortega from Resolution Copper sat on our May breakfast panel. He said the mine will have leading edge technology – probably the best in world. Other important topics they focus on are the environment and growth.
It’s raining nearly 7,000 feet underground.
The slick, sprayed concrete “rock” in this man-made cavern is striped with Mars-orange and alien-green algae. Calcification blooms into what look like bleached coral and barnacles clinging to the ceiling beams and emergency phone. More than a mile closer to the Earth’s molten core than their colleagues above, the miners raise their voices over the roar of pipes pumping 180-degree water and steamy air to the surface.
When the men first bored this tunnel, their machines pierced the aquifer, letting rip torrents of hot water. The resulting 90-degree temps in the cavern were so onerous that the miners had to swallow sensors to monitor their heat stress. Now, the downpours have softened, cool air is blown in, and it’s not entirely unpleasant in this bizarre underworld near Superior.
This is shaft No. 10 – the beginnings of the planned Resolution Copper Mine. If all goes to plan, it will be the biggest copper mine in the U.S. It’s also the most controversial. And it’s at the core of Arizona’s complex copper story: a tale of money, power, success, danger, development and destruction.
Historically, copper was the greatest of the Five Cs, Arizona’s largest economic drivers.
