06/09/2005
Ever been to a big pit copper mine? Well, neither had we, so along with our intrepid friends, Don & Arlene, we made a reservation to tour the Phelps-Dodge Copper Mine in Bagdad, AZ.
No, it's not a misspelling of the Iraqi city. According to legend the first miners were a father & son team. The ore was hauled out on mules in bags. When the son needed another bag he'd yell "bag Dad".
You wouldn't believe how much fun we had. Our guide, Bob Delgato, is a retired miner from Bagdad and he took us everywhere we were allowed to go and showed us everything.
Those trucks that haul the rock ore are so huge, but in the pit they look like toys.
Everything about this place is BIG.
Big trucks, big front loaders, big pit.
If you ever get a chance to do this you should.
I only hope you get a guy like Bob.
Not once did he roll his eyes at our stupid questions.
Bagdad is a rather small town. It's a true company town with Phelps-Dodge owning the buildings, housing, etc.
Statues dedicated to miners.
The happy group standing in front of the big pit
This is a little tire from some of the older equipment no longer used
This is part of the copper pit. It's over a mile across and just as wide. The little black dots are those huge trucks
I blew up one of the trucks from the previous shot. See that little dot at the back of the truck? That's a man.
After the ore is scooped up by the shovels it's loaded into the huge trucks and taken here to be dumped in the crusher
This truck is beginning to dump his ore in the crusher
Now he's empty and heading back for another load
This is the conveyer belt that takes the crushed ore up to the next area for more processing
This is the end of the conveyer belt and the crushed ore is dumped here. That cloud above makes it look apocalyptic doesn't it?
This is the biggest front loader made by Catapillar. Notice the exquisite pattern of the chains on the front tires
This is the leech field where that certain type of ore starts the process of being separated from the rock.
Bucket Babes! OK, so it's Arlene and I. This bucket is from one of the cranes and is due for refurbishment.
I'm in this for scale
One of the treads from a crane that's going to be refurbished as well.
This is a duck. Actually, it's rocks painted like a duck. Residents in the area maintain it. There's also a frog and a skull someplace