Water Consumption at Copper Mines in Arizona

Singh, M.M.

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Description

Arizona has the best copper deposits in the United States, and produces more of the red metal than most countries except Chile and Peru. All mining needs water for mining and processing and copper mining is no exception. Arizona is mostly desert and, therefore, short of water. This scarcity has been exacerbated because of the rapid growth of population in the state and the resulting enhanced demands for the resource. This has also attracted the attention of the general public to the use of water for mining. Most water is used in flotation beneficiation, smelting, and electro-refining. Small amounts are used for domestic purposes (drinking, bathing, and such). It is also used for wetting roads to suppress dust. Factors affecting dust suppression include annual precipitation, natural vegetation, land morphology, and other factors. The amount of water used for wetting may vary between 0% and 15% of the total water used at the mine, depending on conditions. The water source may be from underground aquifers, Central Arizona (CAP), surface streams, precipitation, or a combination.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10150/630044

Additional Links

https://library.azgs.arizona.edu/

Language

Series/Report no.

ADMMR Special Report 29

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Collection Information

Documents in the AZGS Document Repository collection are made available by the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) and the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please contact azgs-info@email.arizona.edu.

North Bounding Coordinate

37.0355

South Bounding Coordinate

31.4077

West Bounding Coordinate

-114.917

East Bounding Coordinate

-108.984

Collections

AZGS Document Repository