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This color educational film is about Copper, how to mine for it and its uses. It was made in 1962 and features footage shot at Phelps-Dodge mines.
Opening titles: US Dept of the Interior - Bureau of Mines presents COPPER: THE OLDEST MODERN METAL (:12-:55). The ancient symbol of enduring life is also the modern symbol of copper. Liquid flows through a mine. A solid piece of copper that has been formed through human means. Copper pieces going through production. Copper wire being formed. The wire is being wound up. Copper is number 29 on the periodic table -the table is shown. Animated copper atom is shown and then inside of it is explained (:56-3:04). The metal copper. Pure copper is malleable, conducts heat rapidly, allows it to resist corrosion, permits it to be drawn, and enables it to conduct electricity efficiently. Other minerals are shown. Exploration for copper. The side of a mountain. Men study with microscopes. A man lays out a map to plan. Copper is found in many parts of the world as the map shows. Southwestern parts of the US have copper deposits. Open pit and underground are two ways to mine. A mining plant. Men with hard hats get ready to head into the mines. Copper wire spins off its spool for the elevator. The men exit the elevator and go into the mine. A drill is used to get into the rock. Explosives are placed into it. The mine is blasted to break up the rock. Broken ore is put into chutes then into tiny railcars to transport it (3:05-7:55). Ore is transported up the shaft. Giant open pit mine painting. In an open pit most waste rock is removed. Railcars move waste rock. A bulldozer pushes rock. Men work. A man surveys. Workers communicate with one another, rail lines move. The open pit is in layers. Explosives are placed in position to be detonated. A man waves a flag. A hand operates the button and the explosion occurs. The rock is then hoisted into railcars (7:56-11:00). Rock is moved into the railcars. Only some of this rock contains ore. Railcars slowly move waste rock out and discard it down a hill. Ore leaves on railcars to being its process of becoming pure copper (11:01-12:38). Ore is dumped. Concentrating, smelting, and refining are up next to make pure copper. Concentrating: first the ore is crushed and ground in water, mixed with oils. The process is explained and shown how they get to concentrate. Piles of ore are ground up. The mill pulverizes the ore. The processes are discussed and shown. Ore mixed with water. Concentrate is then upgraded by grinding and floatation and ready for smelting. The process of smelting and what is required to break it down is explained (12:39-16:17). Man in the smelting plant. Slag is withdrawn and discarded. Buckets pour the liquid. In the converter the liquid is poured. Processes explained. Men punch through the air ducts to keep the air flowing (16:18-18:08). The furnace turns. Oxygen reacts with gas goes off as steam. Copper is poured into a casting wheel. Electrolysis purifies the copper. Pure copper sheets are made in the refinery (18:09-21:03). The electrolysis begins. Sheets of copper are melted down and recast for fabrication. The liquid is cast. Copper moves through the plant. Machines at work. Copper wire is made. A copper pipe is made (21:04-23:20). different copper pieces in production. Wire copper is wrapped with tape. Most copper is hidden behind walls and panels or buried in the ground and sea. A space rocket takes off (23:21-25:10). A hand touches buttons and knobs, a reel to reel tape recorder, a hand turns on a switch, knobs turned, lights go on. Neon signs of the big city. A cross. A statue, The Statue of Liberty. Many different uses for copper. A machinist uses copper. A scientist pulls copper from a machine. Copper experiments (25:11-27:29). End credits (27:30-27:42).
Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the organization based in Liverpool, England. The import-export firm at first exported United States cotton from the Deep South to England, and imported various metals to the US needed for industrialization. The corporation acquired mines and mining companies, including the Copper Queen Mine in Arizona and the Dawson, New Mexico coal mines. In 2007, it was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com