Freeport-McMoRan Chino Mines
Large load · 99 SANTA RITA MINE RD, Vanadium, NM
Chino is an open-pit copper mine at Santa Rita in Grant County, New Mexico, about 15 miles east of Silver City and wholly owned by Freeport-McMoRan. It runs a 36,000 metric ton-per-day concentrator and a 150 million pound-per-year solvent extraction and electrowinning plant, and it operates a 54 MW gas-fired generating plant on site within the PNM balancing authority.
Overview
Chino's concentrator replaced the original 1911 facility in 1982. A separate SX/EW plant makes copper cathode from solution generated by run-of-mine leaching. The mine's smelter, commissioned in 1939 and modernized in 1985, was permanently closed in 2005. Mining uses twenty-two 240-metric-ton haul trucks loaded by three shovels that move an average of 180,000 metric tons of material a day.
Profile
- On-site gas generation
- EIA data list a Chino Mines plant of two gas-fired units totaling 54 MW of nameplate capacity, operated by Freeport-McMoRan, in the PNM balancing authority. The first unit came online in 1959, and the plant is classed as an industrial non-CHP facility.
- Solar siting study
- A federal RE-Powering America's Land feasibility study found the site suitable for large-scale photovoltaics: it is nearly flat, zoned industrial and has extensive electrical distribution including an onsite substation. It estimated that up to 348 MW of PV could be developed across three locations on the site. The study is an assessment, not a project.
- Permit status
Facility
- Activity
- Open-pit copper mine with a 36,000 metric ton-per-day concentrator and a 150 million pound-per-year SX/EW cathode plant
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Jan 1, 2005
- Chino smelter permanently closed.
UNITED STATES | Freeport-McMoRan