AbstractsEarth & Environmental Science

Copper mining at Cananea, Sonora, Mexico

by Albert H. (Albert Hill) Fay




Institution: Missouri University of Science and Technology
Department:
Year: 1905
Record ID: 1575064
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10355/37597


Abstract

"Fifty miles southwest of Bisbee, Arizona, is one of the largest copper mines in the world, - a mine which six years ago was in the throes of the prospecting, developing, and litigation periods, and now turning out over five million pounds of copper bullion per month. This property is located at Cananea, District of Arizpe, sonora, Mexico, and is owned and controlled by the cananea Consolidated Copper Co. S.A. It is situated upon the northeast slope of a short range of mountains from which the town of Cananea derives its name. The port of entry for this part of Mexico is Naco, Arizona, from whence a standard gage railroad wends its way around the south side of the San José mountains, and then across a broad north-south valley some thirty miles wide. In the center of this valley is a small ridge, (forming a water-shed) extending east and west, near the center of which rises the San Pedro river, which flows to the north and finally reaches the Gulf of Lower California via the Gila and Colorado rivers in Arizona. From this same water-shed, but to the southwest, flows the Sonora River, whose waters are lost in the desert sands southwest of Hermosillo. If this water ever reaches the ocean, it is through some under-ground currents" – page 1.