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Clifton-Morenci Pit, Southeastern Arizona The Clifton-Morenci Pit, named for the two towns in the middle of which it inserted itself, is located in southeast Arizona. It is a copper open pit mine owned by the Phelps Dodge Corporation, and it is the largest of its kind in North America. Vertically, it is half the depth of the Grand Canyon, and it spreads out over an area of 60,000 acres. The original pit (then called the Clifton canyon) was carved by the San Francisco river, but it has expended so much from the time of its development that the original town of Morenci actually had to move over to accommodate it. Over 200,000 tons of rock is removed from the pit daily by 240-ton haul trucks. This massive mine may be considered overwhelming, but the alternative would be dozens of smaller mines owned independently, which could lead to other problems. As the journalist Kevin Franklin put it: “The likelihood of a company this size filing bankruptcy, leaving a huge mess behind and disappearing, as so many smaller operations have done, is low.”
Selected Bibliography Franklin, Kevin. “Really Big Show.” Tucson Weekly, 9–15 November 1995. Weblink.
Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation. 2004-2005. Weblink.
Clifton-Morenci Pit, Southeastern Arizona Pictures in the Gallery 
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