I want to thank David Leer for allowing me to photograph the Magma Superior Mine — known then as BHP Mining — in Superior, Arizona. I photographed the copper plant before and as it was being dismantled, from the summer of 1998 to about 2000. Arizona produces more copper than the other forty-nine states combined. Copper is one of the Five Cs. I wanted a record of what this mine was like before it was gone.
Superior was founded on silver. Copper became the thing. The ore there ran 8 to 9 percent, which is very rich, and it was mined underground. Crusher, ball mill, frothers, filter plant, then the smelter — that is the path from rock to copper. The black-and-white frames of the same plant sit with this portfolio. Infrared and process notes are in the journal.