AURA

This hole is about 30 miles south of Tucson.

Maybe Sine can see the point of this – geology and all that. But what this is is just emptiness, and if another meteor comes our way, I hope it lands right smack in this hole we’ve made. The meteor I can understand: it’s our fate. This hole is something we did and there was no reason for it – except the absurd idea to light up the night and send signals farther than we can shout. Copper is a cop-out from nature that gave us life.

When driving to this aptly named open-pit in the comically named Green Valley, you can grasp the irony by approaching via Mission Road (that parallels I-19 a trifle west of it) starting from the White Dove of the Desert (a Catholic mission) , as if heading from Tucson’s heaven on earth to this little bit of hell that rubs shoulders with the nuclear missile launch pad next door that could have done a number anytime of the day or night on some other random locale.

Enough poetry. Just the facts ma'am, nothing but the facts, ma'am. Okay. I’m reading from the gospel according to Asarco:

Mine Tours and Earth Science Center (promotional brochure, 1998):

"The Asarco Mineral Discovery Center open-pit mine tour offers visitors an inside look at an operating open-pit copper mine - a 24-hour-a-day operation where nearly 1,000 Arizonans work with the largest and most modern equipment available, producing copper for America and the world...

"The Asarco Mineral Discovery Center offers hands-on exhibits about mining and minerals, from how ore deposits are formed and how they are discovered and mined, to how the land is reclaimed after mining... Historic and present-day mining equipment is displayed on the museum grounds...

"Asarco is one of the world’s leading integrated producers of nonferrous metals, principally copper, lead zinc, silver, and” moly denim, molibdindin, mo blib blib blib.

SINE

“molybdenum” mo lib din um,

AURA

Thank you dear, and also produces specialty chemicals, minerals and other industrial products, and provides environmental services.

SINE and AURA

Take Pima Mine Road east.

AURA

east from Mission to complete this outing to the mine and Discovery Center. Blib blib blib. I am done. I am done. There are a few links Sine put in here if you want to bang your head into this some more. (How this gets into touristy things to do beats me. Maybe it’s for football players and such.)

●Take me higher

●Mines are our fault

●Making copper

●Asarco's Mission Mine facts

●Asarco Mineral Discovery Center - Overview

●Hours

●10 day weather forecast

●Get book