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80-729: United Copper was incorporated in 1902 by F. Augustus Heinze , a copper magnate who had tussled for years with Amalgamated Copper for lucrative copper mines in Butte, Montana . The firm was incorporated in New Jersey with an authorized capital of US$ 80,000,000. United Copper combined Heinze interests in The Montana Ore Purchasing Company, The Nipper Consolidated Copper Company, The Minnie Healy Mining Company, The Corra Rock-Island Mining Company, and The Belmont Mining Company. Upon consolidation, United Copper

160-468: A close friendship with a shrewd, intelligent businessman, John D. Ryan , who assumed the presidency of Daly's bank and management of his widow's fortune. The leaders of Amalgamated turned to Ryan, famous for his negotiation skills, for help in creating a monopoly at Butte. Control of the areas producing mines was a key to high income. Ryan convinced Heinze to walk away with abundant compensation, allowing Amalgamated to take over Heinze's properties as well as

240-485: A major shale-oil venture , but that the world oil glut and the declining price of petroleum made shale oil moot." At the time of the sale to ARCO, Anaconda had large working hard coal holdings in the Black Thunder mine at Thunder Basin, Wyoming . ARCO planned to diversify its energy business into coal. In June 1998, Arch Coal completed the acquisition of the coal assets of Atlantic Richfield. Closing down

320-447: A mine that contribute to this load: drilling , blasting, loading, and hauling . Waste rock is hauled to a waste dump. Waste dumps can be piled at the surface of the active pit, or in previously mined pits. Leftover waste from processing the ore is called tailings , and is generally in the form of a slurry . This is pumped to a tailings dam or settling pond, where the water is reused or evaporated. Tailings dams can be toxic due to

400-429: A number of worked-out mines. After mining ends at a location, the mine area may undergo land rehabilitation . Waste dumps are contoured to flatten them out, to further stabilize them. If the ore contains sulfides it is usually covered with a layer of clay to prevent ingress of rain and oxygen from the air, which can oxidize the sulfides to produce sulfuric acid , a phenomenon known as acid mine drainage . This

480-477: A result of room and pillar mining . Untopping removes the overburden from above this, opens up the mine from above, and then allows the previously 'trapped' minerals to be won. Untopping was a feature of Welsh slate workings in the 1930s and 2000s, where Martyn Williams-Ellis, manager at Llechwedd found that earlier Victorian workings could be kept profitable with the newly mechanised techniques for bulk excavation to extract their pillars, and more recently across

560-573: A self-taught miner, engineer and geologist, bought a small silver mine called Anaconda in 1880. At the time, Daly was working for the Walker brothers , mining investors and bankers from Salt Lake City, Utah . He was a mining superintendent of the Alice, a silver mine in Walkerville, a suburb of Butte. While working in the Alice, he noticed significant quantities of high grade copper ore. Daly scouted

640-544: A silver mine in Park City, Utah , which consequently made Hearst many millions. Huge deposits of copper were soon developed and Daly became a copper magnate. When surrounding silver mines "played out" and closed, Daly bought up the neighboring mines, forming a mining company. In 1883, Daly built a smelter at Anaconda, Montana , building a company town to support the workers, and connected his smelter to Butte by his Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway . Butte became one of

720-627: A smelter and the town of Anaconda to process copper mined in Butte. In 1899, with Hearst and Tevis deceased, Haggin retired and Daly restructured the enterprise into the Amalgamated Copper Company, bringing in H H Rogers and William Rockefeller . By 1910, Amalgamated had expanded its operations and bought the assets of all other copper companies operating in Butte. In 1922, Anaconda bought mining operations in Mexico and Chile ;

800-678: A stroke, but William Rockefeller brought in his son Percy Rockefeller to help with leadership. In 1912 and 13, the Pujo Committee investigated William Rockefeller and others for allegedly earning $ 30 million in profit through cornering of the copper market and "synchronizing with artificially enforced activity" in Amalgamated Copper stock in the New York Stock Exchange. During the 1920s, metal prices went up and mining activity increased. Those were really

880-615: A toll in the mining industry; decline in demand led to the company making massive layoffs in both the United States and Chile (up to 66 percent unemployment rate in the Chilean mines). On March 26, 1931, Anaconda cut its dividend rate 40%. John D. Ryan died in 1933 and was buried in a copper coffin. His mighty Anaconda shares, once worth $ 175 each, had dropped to $ 3 at the low of the Great Depression. Cornelius Kelley became

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960-450: Is a crucial aspect of determining whether or not a geotechnical engineering design for open-pit slopes is attainable. Groundwater control systems, which include dewatering and depressurization wells, may also have a large impact on local groundwater. Because of this, an optimization-based version of the control system is required to ensure that local and regional hydro-geological impacts are within acceptable ranges. Open Pit depressurization

1040-401: Is the process of removing tensions or pressure from different areas of a mine. Depressurization helps to make open-pit mines more stable and secure. By using an integrated mine slope depressurization program the likelihood that mine plans can be achieved, and at an acceptable level of risk increase drastically. Depressurization allows considerable expansions of a mine, and can extend the life of

1120-559: Is then generally covered with soil , and vegetation is planted to help consolidate the material. Eventually this layer will erode, but it is generally hoped that the rate of leaching or acid will be slowed by the cover such that the environment can handle the load of acid and associated heavy metals. There are no long term studies on the success of these covers due to the relatively short time in which large-scale open-pit mining has existed. It may take hundreds to thousands of years for some waste dumps to become "acid neutral" and stop leaching to

1200-668: The Lusatian Lake District , the Central German Lake District or the Upper Palatinate Lake District. A particular concern in the formation of these lakes is acid mine drainage . Open-pit mines create a significant amount of waste. Almost one million tons of ore and waste rock can move from the largest mines per day, and a couple thousand tons moved from small mines per day. There are generally four main operations in

1280-594: The Philippines and Indonesia . In 2024, nickel mining and processing was one of the main causes of deforestation in Indonesia . Open-pit cobalt mining has led to deforestation and habitat destruction in the Democratic Republic of Congo . Open-pit mines operating in an area with heavy groundwater features may eventually face hydrology-related problems. This includes heaving and bursting of

1360-590: The United Copper Company . Neither organization was able to monopolize copper extraction in Montana. In addition, although Butte was the most prolific copper-mining district in the world, Amalgamated could not control production from other copper producing districts, such as those in Michigan , Utah , Arizona , or countries outside the United States. Marcus Daly passed away in 1900. His widow began

1440-566: The Upper Clark Fork river basin and many associated areas as Superfund sites—the nation's largest. The EPA named ARCO as the "potentially responsible party." As a result, ARCO was obliged to remediate (clean up) the area. Since then, ARCO and BP have spent hundreds of millions of dollars decontaminating and rehabilitating the area, though the job is far from finished. ARCO merged with BP in 2000. BP in turn sold most of ARCO to Tesoro in 2010, but retains responsibility for cleanup of

1520-418: The mineral resource is exhausted, or an increasing ratio of overburden to ore makes further mining uneconomic. After open-pit mines are closed, they are sometimes converted to landfills for disposal of solid waste. Some form of water control is usually required to keep the mine pit from becoming a lake. Several former open-pit mines have been deliberately converted into artificial lakes, forming areas such as

1600-714: The Anaconda Company owned several Montana newspapers including the Butte Post , Butte Miner , Anaconda Standard , Daily Missoulian , Helena Independent , and Billings Gazette . The Anaconda Company controlled the economic and political dealings throughout Montana well into the mid-1900s. As the state's largest employer, Anaconda dominated Montana politics. In the political arena the "copper collar" symbolized influence, wealth, and power. In 1894, Montana held an election to decide which city would be its capital. Marcus Daly, an Anaconda supporter, used his power over

1680-411: The Anaconda Company. From the 1920s until 1959, journalists working at the newspapers could write nothing that clashed with the company's business enterprises. Journalists were thus not allowed to develop and exercise their professional skills through their news judgment - lawyers and accountants made news judgments, not journalists — and were frozen for decades in this pre-professional model. By 1920,

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1760-560: The Anaconda Copper Company, and the Rothschilds appear to have had no further role in the company. By his death in 1900, Marcus Daly had just become president of the holding company valued at $ 75 million. Lawson later had a falling out with Rogers and Rockefeller, and wrote of the experience in a book Frenzied Finance (1905). Colored by Lawson's bitterness, the book offered insight into aspects of high finance. At

1840-543: The Anaconda and several other mines in the area and recommended the mine to the Walker brothers, who sent a professional geologist to inspect the Anaconda. The Walkers were not interested in the mine, and Daly sold his interest in the Alice to purchase it himself. Placer gold and silver lode mining had taken place at Butte, placer mining at Helena , Bannock and Virginia City , Montana territory respectively, and Butte

1920-533: The Anaconda operations and uses ARCO as a subsidiary to handle Anaconda-related lawsuits. Anaconda diversified into aluminum production in 1952, when they purchased rights to build an aluminum reduction plant in Columbia Falls . After two years of construction, the plant went online in August 1955. Following two expansions in the 1960s, the plant had a peak output capacity of 180,000 tons annually. ARCO kept

2000-563: The Anaconda smelter in 1980, and mining ceased completely in 1982 when the deep pumps draining the Berkeley Pit and the underground mines were shut off, allowing the Pit and mines to fill. The company presently only exists as a major environmental liability for BP , who bought out ARCO in 2000. Its former operations are now the largest Superfund site in the country; CERCLA liability passed to BP upon its acquisition of ARCO. Marcus Daly ,

2080-516: The Berkeley Pit and shut off the deep pumps in 1982, allowing the pit and mines to fill with water. The Continental Pit, the last active Anaconda mining property in Butte, was closed in 1982, but resumed mining in the early 2000's. Six years after ARCO acquired rights to the "Richest Hill on Earth", Butte's mines were completely idle. ARCO founder, Robert Orville Anderson , stated "he hoped Anaconda's resources and expertise would help him launch

2160-508: The Copper Collar, but these hoots and catcalls he contemptuously ignored, reiterated his freedom from all cliques, factions, and corporations and that his purpose had been purely and simply to prove or disprove unlawful practices, and sat down." Even the suggestion that a person wore the "copper collar" created pandemonium from the crowd. Ivan Doig refers to the "copper collar" in his novel Work Song (2010). In 1919, Gracie resists

2240-538: The Rothschilds, French and British, bought out the stock in Anaconda held by Hearst's widow, Phoebe Apperson Hearst , for $ 7.5 million. By the late 1890s the Rothschilds probably had control over the sale of about forty percent of the world's copper production. The Rothschilds' role in Anaconda was brief. In 1899, Daly teamed up with two directors of Standard Oil to create the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company which grew to become one of

2320-400: The United States government, and the successor government of Augusto Pinochet paid Anaconda compensation of $ 250 million. Losses from the Chilean takeover however, had seriously weakened the company's financial position. Later in 1971, Anaconda's Mexican copper mine Compañía Minera de Cananea , S.A. was nationalized by president Luis Echeverría Álvarez 's government. An unwise investment in

2400-562: The actions were not illegal and took place frequently. Anaconda was producing copper at such a rate they had tremendous stockpiles. To control prices, the company only sold the requested supply. Under the pressure of a "joint account" set up by Ryan and Rockefeller of nearly a million and a half shares of Anaconda Copper Company, prices fluctuated from $ 40 in December 1928, to $ 128 in March 1929. Selling large volumes of shares rather quickly causes

2480-402: The areas surrounding open-pit mines. Open-pit gold mining is one of the highest potential mining threats on the environment as it affects the air and water chemistry. The exposed dust may be toxic or radioactive, making it a health concern for the workers and the surrounding communities. Open-pit nickel mining has led to environmental degradation and pollution in developing countries such as

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2560-449: The beginning of the 1900s, due to electrification (and Amalgamated's maintenance of an artificially high copper price), copper was very profitable, and copper mining expanded rapidly. Between 1899 and 1915, Anaconda, controlled by Standard Oil insiders, stayed under the name of Amalgamated Copper Company. Amalgamated was in conflict with powerful copper king F. Augustus Heinze , who also owned mines in Butte; in 1902 he consolidated these as

2640-418: The bottom to fall out of the market; investors lose confidence and dump their shares, causing a domino effect. Small investors would purchase blocks of shares on credit, and when they could not sell at or above the given price, had to sell the shares at a loss when the banks called on their loans for the purchase of said shares. Smaller investors were completely wiped out. The results are still considered one of

2720-590: The center of a scandal: in October, F. Augustus Heinze's brother, Otto Heinze, devised a scheme to corner the market in United Copper stock. The Heinzes owned a large share of the company and Otto believed that many of these shares had been loaned out to investors hoping to short sell the stock. Short sellers borrow, or make arrangements to borrow, the stock of a company, which they then sell at current prices. If prices later drop, they repurchase shares of

2800-425: The chairman in 1940. Butte mining, like most U.S. industry, remained depressed until the dawn of World War II , when the demand for war materials greatly increased the need for copper, zinc, and manganese. Anaconda ranked 58th among United States corporations in the value of World War II-military production contracts. That relieved some of the economic tensions. The end of World War II brought another depression in

2880-534: The company the family controlled . When he forced the borrowers to buy back stock, they were able to get it from other sources. When the market realized his corner had failed, the stock price of United Copper collapsed. So shocking was the collapse, that depositors rushed to pull the money out of the banks of F. Augustus Heinze. From there, panic spread, as people pulled money out of banks associated with Heinze, and then from trust companies associated with those banks ( see Panic of 1907 ). In 1908, F. Augustus Heinze

2960-459: The company switched to open-pit mining , a very area-consuming method. The Berkeley Pit kept expanding and ate away at the older parts of Butte. In 1971, Chile's newly elected Socialist president Salvador Allende confiscated the Chuquicamata mine from Anaconda, stripping Anaconda of two-thirds of its copper production. Allende was overthrown violently in 1973 in an operation backed by

3040-517: The company, now at a cheaper price, to replace the borrowed stock. The difference is the profit of the short seller. Heinze's plan was to move aggressively to purchase the stock of United Copper. The price would soar high. Then, with prices high, and Heinze controlling most of the stock, he would force the short-sellers to repay the borrowed stock, a move called a "short squeeze." The short-sellers would have no option but to settle with Heinze for high prices. But Otto Heinze overestimated how much of

3120-400: The copper industry because of a decline in demand after war production ended. During the post-war years, demand and prices for copper dropped. At the same time mining costs had risen precipitously. As a result, copper production from Butte's underground vein mines dropped to only 45,000 mt annually. Anaconda tasked its engineers with devising new techniques to keep mining profitable. The answer

3200-409: The deposit being mined, the mineral being mined, and the size of the machinery that is being used. Generally, large mine benches are 12 to 15 metres thick. In contrast, many quarries do not use benches, as they are usually shallow. Mining can be conducted on more than one bench at a time, and access to different benches is done with a system of ramps. The width of each bench is determined by the size of

3280-399: The earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or rocks are found near the surface where the overburden is relatively thin. In contrast, deeper mineral deposits can be reached using underground mining. Open-pit mining is considered one of the most dangerous sectors in the industrial world . It causes significant effects to miners' health, as well as damage to

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3360-424: The ecological land and water. Open-pit mining causes changes to vegetation, soil, and bedrock, which ultimately contributes to changes in surface hydrology, groundwater levels, and flow paths. Additionally, open-pit produces harmful pollutants depending on the type of mineral being mined, and the type of mining process being used. Miners typically drill a series of test holes to locate an underground ore body. From

3440-472: The environment. The dumps are usually fenced off to prevent livestock denuding them of vegetation. The open pit is then surrounded with a fence , to prevent access, and it generally eventually fills up with ground water . In arid areas it may not fill due to deep groundwater levels. In Germany, the world's largest producer of lignite (virtually all of which these days is mined open-pit), the former mines are usually converted to artificial lakes . To mitigate

3520-480: The equipment being used, generally 20–40 metres wide. Downward ramps are created to allow mining on a new level to begin. This new level will become progressively wider to form the new pit bottom. Most walls of the pit are generally mined on an angle less than vertical. Waste rock is stripped when the pit becomes deeper, therefore this angle is a safety precaution to prevent and minimize damage and danger from rock falls. However, this depends on how weathered and eroded

3600-402: The extracted samples, they can determine the extent of the ore. This helps them determine the likely location of the veins or benches of ore and its commercial value. Open-pit mines that produce building materials and dimension stone are commonly referred to as quarries . Open-cast mines are dug on benches , which describe vertical levels of the hole. The interval of the benches depends on

3680-624: The golden years for Anaconda. The company was managed by the Ryan-Kelley team and was growing fast, expanding into the exploitation of new base metal resources: manganese and zinc . In 1922 the company acquired mining operations in Chile and Mexico ( Cananea ). The mining operation in Chile ( Chuquicamata ), was acquired from the Guggenheims in 1923. It cost Anaconda $ 77 million and was

3760-557: The greatest fleecings in Wall Street history. The United States Senate held hearings on the stock manipulations, concluding that those operations cost the public at the very least, $ 150 million. A 1933 Senate banking committee called these operations the greatest frauds in American banking history, a leading cause of the 1929 stock market crash and 1930s depression. In 1929 Anaconda Copper Mining Co. issued new stock and used some of

3840-429: The largest trusts of the early 20th century and one of the largest mining companies in the world for much of the 20th century. Marcus Daly bought the original silver mine, named the Anaconda, in 1880. Daly partnered with George Hearst , James Ben Ali Haggin and Lloyd Tevis in 1881 to develop it, and the company expanded dramatically in 1882 with the discovery of huge copper deposits. In 1883, Daly began building

3920-597: The largest copper mine in the world. It produced copper yielding two-thirds to three-fourths of the Anaconda Company's profits. The same year ACM purchased American Brass Company , the nation's largest brass fabricator and a major consumer of copper and zinc. In 1926 Anaconda acquired the Giesche company, a large mining and industrial firm, operating in the Upper Silesia region of Poland . This nation had gained independence after World War I. At that time Anaconda

4000-564: The largest trusts of the early 20th century. The leading roles were played by Henry Huttleston Rogers ( John D. Rockefeller 's friend and a key man in his Standard Oil businesses) and William Rockefeller (John's brother). They were aided by company promoter Thomas W. Lawson . Although Rogers and William Rockefeller were Standard Oil directors, the company of Standard Oil did not have a stake in this business, nor did its founder and head, John D. Rockefeller , who disliked such stock promotions. By 1899 Amalgamated Copper acquired majority stock in

4080-592: The latter hosted the largest mine in the world and for a time yielded two-thirds of the company's profits. The company added aluminum reduction to its portfolio in 1955. In the 1950s, the company switched over from underground to open-pit mining . In 1960 its operations employed 37,000 employees in North America and Chile. Anaconda Copper was purchased by the Atlantic Richfield Company ( ARCO ) on January 12, 1977. ARCO halted production at

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4160-454: The mine by 10 to 15 years. One technique used in depressurization is annealing. Annealing is the slow heating and cooling of a metal, alloy or glass. This slow heating and cooling relieves the internal stress of surrounding areas. Annealing will increase a material's workability and durability, which overall increases open-pit mine safety. When groundwater pressures cause problems in open-pit mines, horizontal drains are used to aid in accelerating

4240-450: The mine floor due to excessive uplift pressure. A groundwater control system must be installed to fix problems caused by hydrology. The formation of an appropriate open-pit slope design, changes throughout the life of a mine. It is based mainly on an ever-increasing understanding of the rock mass conditions, including groundwater and associated pressures that may be acting within the slopes. The reduction of groundwater related to pore pressures

4320-582: The mines was not the end of the new owner's problems. The areas of Butte , Anaconda , and the Clark Fork River in this vicinity became highly contaminated by a century of mining and smelting operations. Milling and smelting processes produced wastes with high concentrations of arsenic , as well as copper, cadmium , lead , zinc, and other heavy metals. Beginning in 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency designated

4400-468: The money to buy shares of speculative companies. When the market crashed on October 29, 1929, Anaconda suffered serious financial setbacks. At the same time, copper prices started dropping dramatically. During the winter of 1932–33, as the Depression expanded, copper prices dropped to 10.3 cents per pound, down from an average of 29.5 cents per pound only two years earlier. The Great Depression took

4480-616: The most prosperous cities in the country, often called "the Richest Hill on Earth." From 1892 through 1903, the Anaconda mine itself was the largest copper-producing mine in the world. It produced more than $ 300 billion worth of metal in its lifetime. In 1889 the Rothschilds tried to gain control of the world copper market. In 1892 the French Rothschilds began negotiations to buy the Anaconda mine. In mid-October 1895

4560-442: The newspapers, bribed the legislature, set the wages, murdered union organizers, exported the earnings, and finally shut down, leaving Butte and Anaconda the poorest cities in the states and the largest EPA Superfund site in the country. Open-pit mining Open-pit mining , also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining , is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from

4640-426: The papers to further his cause. While campaigning, "Anaconda's supporters portrayed Helena as a center of avarice and elitism while promoting their choice as the pick of the working man. In return, Helena's backers claimed that if the victory should go to their opponent the entire state would be strangled by the "copper collar" of Daly's Anaconda Copper Mining Company." Daly's campaign was unsuccessful and Helena became

4720-461: The people of Butte. In the early 20th century, Butte's culture with its perverse pride in its wide open character was a response to the people's belief in the all-encompassing power of the company. Butte's bars, gambling dens, dance halls, and brothels were among the few public institutions not owned or controlled by Anaconda. It was not only the hazards of mining and the grim environment of Butte that propelled men and women to frenzied gaiety, but also

4800-552: The plant due to high electricity costs and low market prices. On March 3, 2015, the closure became permanent. Dashiel Hammett's 1929 novel Red Harvest was based on Hammett's experience as a Pinkerton Detective working at the Anaconda Mine in Butte and the Anaconda Road massacre in 1920. The term copper collar , coined in the late 1800s, was a metaphor used to describe a person or company directly controlled by

4880-440: The plant open after Butte copper operations ceased in 1982, and sold the plant to a group of investors led by a former ARCO executive in 1985, due to high electricity costs and low market prices. As Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC), the plant continued operations as an independent company until it was purchased by Swiss metals giant Glencore in 1999. Glencore continued CFAC operations through 2009, when it temporarily shuttered

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4960-433: The powerful Anaconda Company as they try to force her to sell her property. She says, "Leave this house at once, Whoever-You-Are Morgan. I'll not have under my roof a man who wears the copper collar." The workers who are under the "copper collar" are referred to as "snakes" and the Anaconda Company is referred to as an "ogre". The "copper collar" symbolized different things to different people but "the Anaconda Company used

5040-446: The presence of unextracted sulfide minerals , some forms of toxic minerals in the gangue , and often cyanide which is used to treat gold ore via the cyanide leach process . If proper environmental protections are not in place, this toxicity can harm the surrounding environment. Open-pit mining involves the process of disrupting the ground, which leads to the creation of air pollutants. The main source of air pollutants comes from

5120-407: The problem of acid mine drainage mentioned above, flooding is often done with the water of nearby rivers instead of using groundwater alone. In some cases, calcium oxide or other basic chemicals have to be added to the water to neutralize the pH -value. Gold is generally extracted in open-pit mines at 1 to 5 ppm (parts per million) but in certain cases, 0.75 ppm gold is economical. This

5200-466: The properties of William A. Clark (another Butte copper magnate). Amalgamated gained almost complete control of Butte's copper as they merged with these companies. The reorganized company was again named Anaconda. Ryan made its president and rewarded with a significant package of Amalgamated shares. The "right hand" of John Ryan was Cornelius Kelley, a young attorney, who soon was given the position of vice-president. Henry Rogers died suddenly in 1909 of

5280-404: The rocks are, and the type of rocks involved. It also depends on the amount of structural weaknesses occur within the rocks, such as a faults , shears , joints or foliations . The walls are stepped. The inclined section of the wall is known as the batter, and the flat part of the step is known as the bench or berm. The steps in the walls help prevent rock falls continuing down the entire face of

5360-412: The slope depressurization process. Which helps to prevent large scale slope failure in the mine. Horizontal drains are used to lower pore pressure by reducing groundwater head, which enhances slope stability. A form of open-cast quarrying may be carried out as 'untopping'. This is done where a previous underground mine is becoming uneconomic or worked-out, but still leaves valuable rock in place, often as

5440-427: The state's capital. Flexing its political muscle again in 1903, the Anaconda Company closed down operations within all of Montana, putting 15,000 men out of work until the legislature enacted the regulations it demanded. Montanans were angered by this decision and from that point forward, to suggest a politician "wore a copper collar", could cost him the election. The copper collar symbolized oppression and control to

5520-520: The struggle admits of no neutrals. Since the territory's admission to statehood in 1889 the struggle has continued." The term "copper collar" was used in historical novels set in that period. In The Old Copper Collar (1957), a tale of the course of a senatorial election in Helena in the early 20th century, Dan Cushman refers to the "copper collar": "At this point the galleries packed with Bennett sympathizers commenced heckling him with suggestions he wore

5600-482: The tactics of an authoritarian state to quash a legitimate labor movement within its corporate fiefdom. That the press, an elemental part of democracy, was used in the assault marks a black period in the history of American journalism." In Homelands: A Geography of Culture and Place across America, John B. Wright writes that for decades, the Anaconda Company: mined and smelted metal, leveled forests, owned

5680-492: The thought that here were arenas of self-expression denied them elsewhere in a city ringed by the ' copper collar ' . Choosing sides in this battle was unavoidable. According to Author Fisher's article, "Montana: Land of the Copper Collar," "Six months is the longest one may live in Montana without making the decision whether one is 'for the Company' or 'against the Company.' The all-pervading and unrelenting nature of

5760-416: The transportation of minerals, but there are various other factors including drilling, blasting and the loading and unloading of overburden. These type of pollutants cause significant damage to public health and safety in addition to damaging the air quality. The inhalation of these pollutants can cause issues to the lungs and ultimately increase mortality. Furthermore, the pollutants affect flora and fauna in

5840-512: The unsuccessful Twin Buttes mine in southern Arizona further weakened the company. In 1977 Anaconda was sold to Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) for $ 700 million. However, the purchase turned out to be a regrettable decision for ARCO. Lack of experience with hard-rock mining, and a sudden drop in the price of copper to sixty-odd cents a pound, the lowest in years, caused ARCO to suspend all underground mining operations in Butte in 1980. ARCO closed

5920-466: The wall. In some instances additional ground support is required and rock bolts , cable bolts and shotcrete are used. De-watering bores may be used to relieve water pressure by drilling horizontally into the wall, which is often enough to cause failures in the wall by itself. A haul road is usually situated at the side of the pit, forming a ramp up which trucks can drive, carrying ore and waste rock. Open-pit mines are typically worked until either

6000-524: Was achieved by bulk heap leaching at the Peak Hill mine in western New South Wales , near Dubbo , Australia . Nickel , generally as laterite, is extracted via open-pit down to 0.2%. Copper can be extracted at grades as low as 0.11% to 0.2%. Open-pit mining is a common method to extract minerals and samples from the Earth. Due to being cost-effective, this method is very popular and is used all over

6080-606: Was called the "Greater Butte Project" (GBP). The project would exploit lower-grade underground reserves by the block-caving method. Anaconda sank a new shaft, the Kelley, and the mine began producing in 1948. The new method was successful, although short-lived. They also began stripping ground for what was to become the Berkeley Pit . In 1956 Anaconda netted the largest annual income in its history: $ 111.5 million. After that year, ore grades continued their decline, mining costs were rising each year, and profits were diminishing. To survive,

6160-632: Was capable of producing about 42 million pounds (19 thousand metric tons) of copper a year, as compared to 143 million pounds (65 thousand metric tons) per year for Amalgamated Copper . United Copper was literally traded " on the curb " outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). "On the curb" trading was later formalized as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). In 1907, after its legal battles with Amalgamated had finally been settled, United Copper again found itself

6240-400: Was indicted for his role in the corner. The share price of United Copper, meanwhile, never recovered. In 1913 the company was placed into receivership , so its assets could be unwound. Amalgamated Copper The Anaconda Copper Mining Company , known as the Amalgamated Copper Company from 1899 to 1915, was an American mining company headquartered in Butte, Montana . It was one of

6320-461: Was nearing the end of its silver lode mining phase. Lacking capital to develop the mine, Daly sought financing from San Francisco mining magnate George Hearst and his partners, James Ben Ali Haggin and Lloyd Tevis , of Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co. and the Anaconda Company was born in 1881 with Daly as a 25% partner in the enterprise. Daly had recommended Hearst purchase the Ontario Mine ,

6400-402: Was the fourth-largest company in the world. These heady times, however, were short-lived. In 1928, Ryan and Rockefeller aggressively speculated on Anaconda shares by manipulating the supply of copper (reducing supply to corner the market), causing shares to go up at first; at which point they sold, which caused stocks to fall; then buying them back. Known today as a " pump and dump ", at the time

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