New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

The Bagdad copper mine, located in the Eureka mining district, is the last major porphyry copper deposit in Arizona, which has been developed largely without the support of a major mining company. The mine is located in west-central Yavapai County, approximately 100 miles from Phoenix. The first claims were staked between 1878 and 1882. John Lawler staked many of the early claims in the district, and is the name most closely associated with the development of the mine. The Bagdad Copper Company was formed in 1911. Originally operated as an underground mine, using block-caving methods, it became an open pit operation in 1945. The first mill was constructed in 1928, and the state’s first SXEW plant was constructed at Bagdad in 1970. Cyprus Mining acquired the mine in 1973, later merging with Phelps-Dodge, which operated the mine until 2007; in that year Bagdad was acquired, along with all other Phelps-Dodge assets, by Freeport MacMoRan, the present owner. The mine currently produces about 25 million pounds of copper annually.

Because of its remote location (the highway literally ends at the company town), Bagdad is not as well known as Morenci or Ray, but this mine has produced its share of exceptional mineral specimens, in particular beautiful, gemmy calcite clusters and fishtail twins, sprays of malachite pseudomorphs after azurite, deep blue chrysocolla covered with druzy quartz and surrounded by banded malachite, fine groups of quartz crystals, chalcopyrite crystals, chalcotrichite, and several other species of interest to the mineral collector. The lapidary material from Bagdad is truly noteworthy.

References:

1. Anderson, C. A., Scholz, E. A., and Strobel, Jr., J. D., 1955, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Bagdad Area, Yavapai County, Arizona, U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 278.
2. Arizona Bureau of Mines, 1938, Some Arizona Ore Deposits, Bulletin 145.
3. Arizona Bureau of Mines, 1950, Arizona Zinc and Lead deposits, Bulletin 156.
4. Bogart, R. C., 1990, Some Talk About a Copper Mine: A History of Bagdad, Arizona, Ralph Turner Associates, Prescott, Arizona.
5. Parsons, A. R., The Porphyry Coppers in 1956, 1957, AIME.
6. Titley, S., and Hicks, C., 1966, Geology of the Porphyry Copper Deposits, University of Arizona Press.