Mineral Facts and Problems: 1960 Edition Page: 237

                                
seem to have been worked from about 1600
B.C. in the Bronze Age to the Hallstatt period
of the Iron Age, about 800 B.C. Probably the
most important copper deposits in Europe were
those of Spain and Portugal including the out-
standing Rio Tinto ore body which is still being
mined. In Britain copper deposits found in
Anglesey, Cornwall, Devon, and Shropshire are
of historical interest, having been developed by
the Romans after the great invasion of 43 A.D.
The Copper Age in the Americas probably
dawned between 100 and 200 A.D. Although
some bronze appeared about this time in South
America, a so-called Bronze Age was not evi-
dent, and both North and South America
passed more or less directly from Copper into
the Iron Age. Copper was first produced in
the American Colonies in 1709 at Simsbury,
Conn.; the Spaniards are credited with finding
the copper-producing area of southwestern New
Mexico about 1800; and a significant ore body
(Ely mine) was discovered in Orange County,
Vt., in 1820. However, it was not until after
the discovery of the Northern Michigan ore de-
posits in the early 1840's that production in the
United States exceeded a few hundred tons a
year. Extensive ore bodies were found in Mon-
tana and Arizona during 1860-80. Smelter
output from domestic ores increased from 728
tons in 1850 to 30,240 in 1880. The first of the
large low-grade porphyry ore bodies, at Bing-
ham, Utah, was brought into production by the
Utah Copper Co. (later absorbed by the Kenne-
cott Copper Corp.) in 1906. The ore dressing
methods and procedures of flotation that were
developed to process successfully tremendous
quantities of low-grade copper ores encouraged
search for and development of other porphyry
deposits that account for most of the domestic
copper reserve.
SIZE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE INDUSTRY
The value of copper output in the United
States is second only to iron among metals.
The United States has been the largest copper-
producing country in the world since 1883, ex-
cept for 1934 when Chile ranked first. In 1958,
the United States produced 26 and 25 percent,
respectively, of world mine and smelter pro-
duction.  Other principal copper-producing,
countries were Chile, U.S.S.R., Northern Rho-
desia, Canada, and Belgian Congo in that
order. Countries of the western hemisphere
produced 53 percent of the world's total mine
output.
The primary copper industry of the United
States is composed of approximately 200 com-
panies engaged in the production and sale of
copper. The principal segments of the in-
dustry-mining, smelting, refining, fabricating,

and marketing-are dominated in varying de-
grees by a few large vertically integrated
companies.
Twenty-five mines produced 97 percent of
the domestic copper output in 1958; the 5
largest produced 52 percent, and the 10 lead-
ing mines furnished 76 percent. The balance
.was supplied by small copper mines and pro-
ducers of other ores, which contained recover-
able   byproduct     copper.     Three    companies,
Kennecott Copper Corp., Phelps Dodge Corp.,
and The Anaconda Co., usually account for
about three-fourths of the annual domestic
mine    production.       Kennecott     and    Phelps
Dodge are by far the largest producers and
supply about 35 percent and 25 percent, respec-
tively, of the total each year.        The principal
copper-mining companies in the United States
in 1958 were:
Recoverable
copper con- Percent
Company                tent of ore  of U.S.
mined     total
(short tons)
Kennecott Copper Corp----------------------  319, 000  33
Phelps Dodge Corp_-------------------------  219, 000  22
The Anaconda Co-----------------------   112, 000     12
San Manuel Copper corp---------------------  75, 000  8
Inspiration Consoldated Copper Co-----------.........  42,000  4
White Pine Copper Co-----------------------  41,000  4
Miami Copper Co. (including Copper Cities)_  33,000   3
Magma Copper Co....-------------------------- 21,000  2
Total, above companies----------------................. 862, 000 88
Total, United States--------------------  979,000.--
Copper-smelting capacity (exclusive of the
Lake smelters in Michigan) in the United
States in 1958 totaled approximately 8.6 mil-
lion tons of charge. Four companies control
about 90 percent of this capacity.            Copper-
smelting companies and their approximate per-
centage of the total U.S. smelting capacity
are:
Percent of
Company                    total capacity
(charge)
Phelps Dodge Corp. and Phelps Dodge Refining Corp..  31
Kennecott Copper Corp------- -------------------------- 28
American Smelting & Refining Co-----------------------  15
The Anaconda Co---------------------------------------  12
International Smelting & Refining Co _ ------        4
San Manuel Copper Corp--------------------------------  4
American Metal Climax, Inc------------------------------  3
Magma Copper Co-.------------------------------------  2
Tennessee Copper Co--1----------------------------------1
Total.--------------------------------------------  100
1A subsidiary of The Anaconda Co.
Lake-smelter capacity in 1958 totaled 157,000
tons, as follows:
Short tone
Calumet & Hecla, Inc. o---           -100,000
White Pine Copper Co. -------45,000
Quincy Mining Co. ---                  12,000

237

COPPER