 the chino mine ("chino" is spanish for the "chinaman"), also known as the santa rita mine, is an open-pit copper mine located in the town of santa rita, new mexico  east of silver city. the mine was started as the chino copper company in 1909 by mining engineer john m. sully and spencer penrose,penrose interests- retrieved 2012-01-12stuckwisch, michelle., patricia padilla, gretchen dickey and ruth vise. "mining became big business in southwest". - el paso community college. and is currently owned and operated by freeport-mcmoran inc. subsidiaries. the area where the mine is located is at an average elevation of . the huge open-pit mine was once the largest in the world, but has been surpassed by chuquicamata, and is perhaps the oldest mining site still being used in the american southwest. apaches, spaniards, mexicans, and americans have all obtained native copper and copper ore from this site, once known as the santa rita mine, and in the 19th century, a tunnel mine. the present-day open-pit mining operation was begun in 1910. it is the third oldest open pit copper mine in the world after the bingham canyon mine and chuquicamata. ==history== an apache indian showed spanish officer lt. colonel jose manuel carrasco the site of the chino mine in 1800. carrasco recognized the rich copper deposits and began mining, but lacked the expertise to exploit the copper. he sold the santa rita del cobre mine, as he had named it, to francisco manuel de eiguea in 1804 who imported convict labor to work the mine and build a fort (presidio) to house the convicts and protect them from the apache. the miners sent pack trains of mules loaded with copper to chihuahua. americans sylvester pattie, james kirker, and r
Buildings_and_structures_in_Grant_County,_New_Mexico Copper_mines_in_the_United_States Geography_of_Grant_County,_New_Mexico Geology_of_New_Mexico Phelps_Dodge Surface_mines_in_the_United_States