Lavender Pit
The Lavender Pit is a former open pit copper mine near Bisbee in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. It is located near the famous Copper Queen Mine. The Lavender Pit was named in honor of Harrison M. Lavender (1890–1952), who as Vice-President and General Manager of Phelps Dodge Corporation, conceived and carried out this plan for making the previously unprofitable low-grade copper bearing rock of the area into commercial copper ore.
Because of the competent host rock, this pit has much steeper sides than other open pit copper mines in the southwest area. The pit covers an area of 300 acres (1.2 km2), and is 900 feet (274 m) deep. Large tonnages of dump rock are placed around Bisbee, notably north of the residential district of Warren and other parts of the southeastern Mule Mountains area.
Geography
The mine is at 31°25′55″N 109°53′57″W / 31.43194°N 109.89917°W, at an altitude of 4941 feet (1506 m) above mean sea level.
See also
Notes
- ^ K.R. Long, 1995, Production and reserves of porphyry copper deposits in Arizona Geological Society Digest 20
- ^ Mine Information
- ^ Phelps Dodge, 1992 Form 10K