Serious Strip Mining

Nov 1/17  Weather 70, 40, sunny. 

Santa Rita/Chino Strip Mine

300 ton mining trucks - look like ants in the roads

Little did we know that this area is huge mining country.  With the name Silver City we assumed there would be some old ghost mines but we were so wrong.  There is a mining scenic tour of 16 different mines in close proximity.  The Santa Rita/Chino Open Pit Copper Mine is the 3rd largest in the World!
The southern New Mexico mining town of Santa Rita no longer exists, even as a ghost town, except in the memories of those who lived there.
The ground beneath Santa Rita has been blasted, shoveled and trucked away over the last century to feed the world’s demand for copper, leaving a hole a two miles wide and 1,500 feet deep.   It is so large it can be seen from outer space. 
Since the mid 1800's the Apaches, Spaniards, Mexicans and now Americans have all obtained native copper and copper ore from this site.  There are silver, gold, zinc, copper and iron ore mines here.  

aerial shot of the mine

In the campground there are maybe half a dozen of us (siteseeing) and the rest of the sites are all miners.  The fellow camped next to us is here for 17 months fixing equipment while the company is opening up a gold mine that was previously closed.  His company is from Arizona and he has been all over the world - Indonesia, Africa, Brazil and now here.  He leaves everyday at 4 am and comes back about 6 pm, pretty dirty!  He loves his work, he has long days for several in a row then he will be off for days..... then back to the grind again.  Sounds like it pays real well and he had only good things to say about his profession.

trucks are over 300 tons and dwarf a regular size pickup