Freeport-McMoRan hosts tour of new Cobre Mine haul road 091318

: Category: Front Page News Front Page News; Published: 16 September 2018 16 September 2018

Freeport-McMoRan hosts tour of new Cobre Mine haul road 091318

Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

Tom Shelley of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. of New Mexico, organized and moderated the tour of the new Cobre Mine haul road, which crosses the newly constructed tunnel over New Mexico 152.

All tour participants were issued orange vests, hard hats and safety glasses. They could keep the glasses, but returned the vests and hard hats.

He recognized many members of the company for their work on the project. They included Gary Littleton, Larry Crotz, Eileen Salazar, Barney Thompson, Jason Benavidez, Albert Padilla, Jim Cook, Dustin Moore, Jose Carrasco, Robert Delgado and Adam Baca. He especially singled out Elmo Gomez for "pulling the project together and making it happen."

Shelley said a lot of the work was done in house, with contractor support. "The first load of ore came out of Cobre on Aug. 8."

He also introduced the two drivers of the huge haul trucks as Ralph Peralta and Geraldine McLaughlin. Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch was invited to ride in one truck and Grant County Commissioner Brett Kasten would ride in the other.

Prior to the ribbon-cutting across the road, Tony Trujillo, who recently retired from Freeport, welcomed everyone to the Cobre Start Up Celebration. He said the process to get to the point of extracting ore had taken more than 20 years, from permitting to completion of the road giving access to the mine. He also welcomed dignitaries, such as Joe Martinez, Congressman Steve Pearce's field representative; Kent Maddox of the Veterans' Advisory Council; New Mexico Rep. Rodolpho "Rudy" Martinez; County Commissioners Harry Browne, Alicia Edwards and Kasten; County Manager Charlene Webb; Hurley Mayor pro tem Richard Maynes and Councilwoman Esther Gil; Bayard Clerk Kristy Ortiz; Santa Clara's Bauch; Cobre Schools representatives School Board President Ralph "Toy" Sepulveda, Supt. Robert Mendoza and Frank Cordova; Western New Mexico University Vice President of External Affairs Magaleno Manzanares; and Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce Director Scott Terry.

Also recognized were Dal Moellenberg of Gallagher & Kennedy; and from the Freeport Corporate Office in Phoenix: Edward Lopez, Grant Welker, and Kent McMillan.

Chino Mine General Manger Chad Fretz thanked the 250 employees involved in getting the road built and the Cobre Mine started up. He said the road of about six miles required moving hundreds of thousands of tons of material. He also recognized the New Mexico and federal agencies involved in the process, including the New Mexico Environment Department's Mining Division, the Department of Transportation, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. "We had to have a collaborative relationship with all these agencies to get this done. We thank them for getting the Copper Rule, which gave us some certainty to get it permitted, while continuing to protect the environment. Tony mentioned the 20-year time frame. We bought the Cobre Mine in 1998."

After the ribbon cutting, several tour vans traveled the road to where the attendees could see the area that was being mined and the shovel that takes the blasted ore and places it in the haul trucks.

The tires for the haul trucks are 13-feet in diameter and have a pressure of 150 pounds per square inch. The fuel tanks carry 1,200 gallons. Each truck carries about 260 tons of ore and travels at about 20-25 miles per hour. The target is eight to 10 loads a day. Each trip takes about a bit less than an hour from the shovel to the ore dump back to the shovel.

The new mine created 40-60 new jobs making the total jobs between Chino, Cobre and Tyrone a little more than 1,400 people employed.

At the tour stop at the top, Shelley said: "We are on Hanover Mountain. This is the ore body we are working. To run the shovel is a big part of the project, because we had to upgrade the power to this area. The substation upgrade cost about $9 million. The construction of the haul road required the removal of waste rock to the south dump of Chino Mine. We also had a communications upgrade, so we could have positive radio contact between towers. It also included a Chino water upgrade for Cobre."

He said the company has a mine shaft for water at Chino and another at Hanover Mountain. "The haul roads were built of material that doesn't harm the environment. Our budget for the project was $57.4 million, but we brought it in under budget at $55 million. It's about a 50-minute round trip. We had challenges on making the road. The materials were very hard and required blasting. We had to maintain the power line to Mimbres, while we abandoned the overhead lines to putting them underground. It was good for burying the power lines because they are in hard rock and not going anywhere."

Shelley said they assembled the large shovel on site, and they started mining waste prior to completing the overpass.

The haul road crosses Hanover Creek, so a tunnel was built for the creek. "It can carry a minimum of a 100-year flood, but it has more capacity than that. We also put in a tunnel for Fierro Road. Storm water brought big challenges, but we used best management practices to place outlets along the road for drainage."

To a question about how far the mining would go, Shelley said: "We plan to take the mountain down to level in about 4 ½ years. We will likely be permitting more mining below this ore body. There is also a nice ore body in the Continental Mine pit. We have historically separated magnetite from the copper, and we sell it for use in roads and concrete."

The tour returned on a different route that connected to Georgetown Road where the celebration lunch was held at the Field of Dreams.

Shelley welcomed the employees who were there for lunch. "I can't say enough about the professionalism and safety all of you exhibited to get this project completed." Fretz thanked Shelley for "organizing the celebration."

Joe Martinez said the tour was "an incredible experience in seeing what you [the employees] go through and see every day. It's a hell of a secret what you do every day in service to our country."

Rudy Martinez said it had been a privilege to participate in the tour. "I spent 33 ½ years at Chino. I started at the mill in Hurley, became a janitor while I was doing an apprenticeship in electrical, and I retired as senior planner in electrical. I've seen many changes. This project is a tremendous asset to the state, the county and the area. It means jobs. We have to continue these projects."

Framed photos of the mine, the haul road, or the tunnel were handed out to tour participants.

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Freeport-McMoRan hosts tour of new Cobre Mine haul road 091318

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