ASARCO Mineral Discovery Center -- Mine Tours --

Mine Tours

Say CHEEEEESE!
An 11-foot-diameter tire from a 240-ton haul truck provides a
great photo opportunity for kids and adults.

Nowhere else in the State of Arizona can you find regularly scheduled, public tours of a working open-pit copper mine available without a prior reservation. On your tour, you'll see how copper ore is mined in the open-pit and then at the center you can see how it is processed in the mill to extract the copper minerals.

The mine tour begins at the Mineral Discovery Center. There you can purchase tickets for the tour and become familiar with the copper mining process in our exhibit center and video theater.

Ticket Prices

There is no admission charge for the Mineral Discovery Center exhibits, Discovery Theater, or gift shop.

Mine Tour:

The Mineral Discovery Center is OPEN Tuesday - Saturday from 9am to 5pm

Five Tours Daily
9:30 am	11:00 am	12:30 pm	2:00 pm	3:30 pm

Tour Prices
$ 8.00	Adults
$ 6.00	Seniors (62+ years)
$ 5.00	Children (5-12 years)
Free	Children (0-4 years)

For tour reservations please call (520) 625 - 8233

The Open-Pit Viewpoint

The first stop on your tour is the Open-Pit Viewpoint on the south rim of the Mission Mine. The viewpoint is securely fenced for your safety, and it has four binocular telescopes to provide a close-up view of the trucks and shovels working in the mine.

The Mission Mine is a quarter-mile deep, two miles from north to south, and a mile-and-three-quarters from east to west. About six times the amount of earth moved to dig the Panama Canal has been mined here.

Two miles long. 1 3/4 miles wide, and 1/4 mile deep
Aerial view of the Mission Complex, looking southwest

The Mission open-pit copper mine was at one time five separate mining properties, but over the years, Asarco has combined them into one integrated mining operation. The mine occupies around 20,000 acres of private, State leased, and Indian land. As of 1998 there were 928 employees working three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week with an annual payroll of $38,444,000.

Each year the mine has the capacity to process about 475,000 tons of copper concentrates which yields 130,000 tons of copper and 2 million ounces of silver. In 1998, the Mission mine paid $3,203,000 in royalties and $7,187,000 in taxes to the State of Arizona and $496,000 in royalties to the Tohono O'ohdam Indian nation.

In 1996, the Mission mine bought $101,688,000 in goods and services from Arizona vendors, and $74,754,000 of that was from Pima County alone.

The South Mill

At the Mill, the copper ore is ground into a powder so the copper minerals can be separated by the froth flotation process. One of our AMDC staff members is here to explain what happens at the mill and to answer your questions.

These mills grind copper ore into fine powder.
These huge mills grind the ore into a fine powder
so the copper minerals can be separated by flotation.

Reclamation Areas

The return trip to the Mineral Discovery Center will take you alongside current reclamation areas. The tailings are nothing more than ground-up rock with the copper minerals removed.

For more information about the mining and milling processes,
click the Making Copper button on the menu above.

Back at the Center...

When your tour returns to the Mineral Discovery Center, take some time to explore the exhibits both inside and outside. Feel free to ask questions of any staff member. And don't miss The Company Store gift shop to find that special memento of your visit.