The Robinson Mine is a

porphyry copper Porphyry copper deposits are copper ore bodies that are formed from hydrothermal fluids that originate from a voluminous magma chamber several kilometers below the deposit itself. Predating or associated with those fluids are vertical dikes of ...

deposit located at

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

White Pine County, Nevada White Pine County is a largely rural, mountain county along the central eastern boundary of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,030. Its county seat is Ely. The name "(Rocky Mountain) white pine" is an old ...

, in the

Egan Range The Egan Range is a line of mountains in White Pine County, in eastern Nevada in the western United States. From Egan Creek near the historic community of Cherry Creek, the range runs south for approximately 108 miles (173 km), extending so ...

, west of Ely. The mine comprises three large open pits: Liberty, Tripp-Veteran and Ruth. The ore is extracted using conventional surface methods, and is then processed into a copper-gold concentrate, and a molybdenum concentrate in a concentrating plant. Since 2012 the mine has been owned and operated by Polish copper miner

KGHM Polska Miedź KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (Kombinat Górniczo-Hutniczy Miedzi), commonly known as KGHM, is a Polish multinational corporation that employs around 34,000 people around the world and has been a major copper and silver producer for more than 50 years. ...

Large-scale

copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

began in the district in 1907 and, with some hiatuses and several changes of ownership, continues in 2019. Production from 1908 to 1978 was more than 4 billion pounds (1.5 million tonnes) of copper and of gold, and 2018 annual production of 106 million pounds (48,000 tonnes) of copper and of gold. Published ore reserves at Robinson as of end of 2017 were of copper.Robinson Mining District history
/ref> Current plans are for the mine to operate until 2022 before closure and reclamation.

History and current operations

Around 1868,

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

Thomas Robinson discovered gold and silver, along with widespread, low-grade copper, in what became the Robinson Mining District. From around 1892 to 1907, several

gold mine Gold Mine may refer to: * Gold Mine (board game) *Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena *"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album ''ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characteri ...

s were opened, but none were successful. Around 1907, interest turned towards copper. Mining in White Pine County, Nevada
by June Shaputis, 1999. Under Daniel C. Jackling, in 1905 Nevada Consolidated Copper Corporation (Nevada Con) began copper mining in the Veteran Mine. "The resulting mine was an impressive open-pit and satellite cave." During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and until the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Nevada Con employed some 1000 - 1200 men in their mines. Mining ended around 1949. Future production would come from

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 of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

. In late 1906, the Guggenheim interests acquired control of Nevada Con, as a part of their rapidly growing copper-mining business. In 1932, Nevada Con became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kennecott Copper, another Guggenheim-controlled company. A Corporate History of the Nevada Consolidated Copper Properties
by Keith Albrandt In September 1978, Kennecott closed its Nevada mines, and in 1983 the

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

smelter was also closed. Recorded production from 1908 to 1978 was more than 4 billion pounds of copper and 2.7 million ounces of gold.Robinson Mine
at ''Mining Record'', 2009. Magma Copper bought Robinson in 1991 and began work on reopening the mine in 1994. In 1996,

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

acquired Magma, and operated Robinson from 1996 to 1999. Magma/BHP invested around $480 million in the mine and plant. The mine was closed in 1999 due to low copper prices. Quadra Mining bought Robinson in 2004, and reopened the mine later that year. Since 2005, production has averaged about 125 million pounds of copper per year. In 2010, Robinson produced 109 million pounds of copper and 73,000 ounces of gold. In 2012, Quadra was acquired by

, a large Polish copper producer. As of December 2017, the Robinson Mine had 605 employees.Robinson Mine part of sale
''Ely Times'', March 2, 2012

Geology

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

limestones Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when th ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s and

sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) b ...

were

intruded Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March ...

in the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

by a

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

monzonite Monzonite is an igneous intrusive rock, formed by slow cooling of underground magma that has a moderate silica content and is enriched in alkali metal oxides. Monzonite is composed mostly of plagioclase and alkali feldspar. Syenodiorite is an o ...

porphyry. This intrusion

metamorphosed Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

the surrounding sediments creating a

tactite Skarns or tactites are hard, coarse-grained metamorphic rocks that form by a process called metasomatism. Skarns tend to be rich in calcium-magnesium-iron-manganese-aluminium silicate minerals, which are also referred to as calc-silicate minerals ...

zone in the altered limestone up to 150 meters away, producing porphyry ores with traces of gold.

Chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mo ...

is the primary ore mineral, which may be altered to

chalcocite Chalcocite (), copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S), is an important copper ore mineral. It is opaque and dark gray to black, with a metallic luster. It has a hardness of 2.5–3 on the Mohs scale. It is a sulfide with a monoclinic crystal system. The ...

. File:Ely Mine Locations.PNG, Geology map of the Ruth area showing alteration zone, copper and gold mineralized areas, and the Veteran, Trapp, Liberty and Ruth open pits (l-r) File:Ely Mine Locations 3.PNG, Key: Alteration and mineralization areas File:Ely Geology Part 1.PNG, Solid geology map of the Ruth area File:Ely Geology Part 3.PNG, Key: Solid geology map File:Ruth Cross Section.PNG, Ruth pit cross section File:Ruth Cross Section Index.PNG, Key: Ruth pit cross section

References

{{reflist

External links

Robinson Mine
at KGHM International
Robinson Mine photos
at

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Buildings and structures in White Pine County, Nevada Copper mines in the United States Geography of White Pine County, Nevada Mines in Nevada Open-pit mines