Town's last copper relics to pass into history

Town's last copper relics to pass into history

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/164977

By Richard Ducote
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.17.2007

Decades of toil by thousands of workers produced billions in wealth at the former
Magma Copper complex on the northeast flank of the Santa Catalinas.

At full production, San Manuel's underground copper mine — the largest in
North America — could disgorge an average of more than 38 tons of ore every
minute around the clock, every day of the year.
In its lifetime, the smelter produced 14 billion pounds of copper.

The last vestiges of San Manuel's copper legacy are to be blasted into oblivion today.
Twin smelter stacks, each more than 500 feet tall and weighing 10,000 tons, will
crumble to the ground as a symbolic, dramatic end to the age of mining at San Manuel.
The town founded on mining, 45 miles northeast of Tucson, is changing into a
bedroom community.