ASARCO: История американской горно-металлургической компании

American integrated energy company

ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company) is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona, which mines and processes primarily copper. The company has been a subsidiary of Grupo México since 1999. Its three largest open pit mines are the Mission, Silver Bell and Ray mines in Arizona. Its mines produce of copper a year. ASARCO conducts solvent extraction and electrowinning at the Ray and Silver Bell mines in Pima County, Arizona, and Pinal County, Arizona, and operates a smelter in Hayden, Arizona. ASARCO's smelting plant in El Paso, Texas, was suspended in 1999 and then demolished on April 13, 2013. Before closing, the plant produced of anodes each year. Refining at the mines as well as at a copper refinery in Amarillo, Texas, produce of refined copper each year. ASARCO's hourly workers are primarily represented by the United Steelworkers. ASARCO has 20 superfund sites across the United States, and it is subject to considerable litigation over pollution. After emerging from bankruptcy in 2008, it made a settlement with the government of $1.79 billion for contamination at various sites; the funds were allotted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for cleanup at 26 sites around the country.

ASARCO was founded in 1888 as the American Smelting and Refining Company by Henry H. Rogers, William Rockefeller, Adolph Lewisohn, Robert S. Towne, Anton Eilers, and Leonard Lewisohn. From 1901 to 1959, American Smelting and Refining was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In April 1901, the Guggenheim family gained control of the company, and in 1905, bought the Tacoma smelter from the Bunker Hill Mining Company. ASARCO eventually controlled 90% of the U. S. lead production, essentially becoming a smelter trust. On January 11, 1916, sixteen ASARCO employees were killed and mutilated by Pancho Villa's men near the town of Santa Isabel, Chihuahua. It was one of the incidents that sparked the Mexican Expedition, a United States Army attempt to capture or kill Villa. Based in Tucson, Arizona, the company grew to conduct mining, smelting, and refining of primarily copper. Open pit mining is primarily utilized as the most efficient method of recovering this metal; the company's three largest such works are the Mission, Silver Bell, and the Ray mines in Arizona. The company had also operated in silver mining in Idaho. Its mines produce of copper a year. ASARCO conducts solvent extraction and electrowinning at the Ray and Silver Bell mines in Pima County, Arizona, and Pinal County, Arizona, and operates a smelter in Hayden, Arizona. It also had a smelting plant in El Paso, Texas, operations of which were suspended. In 1975 it officially changed its name to ASARCO Incorporated. In 1999 it was acquired by Grupo México, which had begun as ASARCO's 49% owned Mexican subsidiary in 1965. On August 9, 2005, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Corpus Christi, Texas under then president Daniel Tellechea. As of 2019, ASARCO operates two primary locations in the United States, a mining and smelting complex in Arizona and a copper refinery in Amarillo, Texas.

After the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sued ASARCO for damages to natural resources in 1983, the EPA placed the ASARCO Globe Plant on its National Priorities List of Superfund sites, with ASARCO to pay for the site's cleanup. In 1972 ASARCO's downtown Omaha plant in Nebraska was found to be releasing high amounts of lead into the air and ground surrounding the plant. In 1995 ASARCO submitted a demolition and site cleanup plan to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality for their impact on the local residential area. Fined $3.6 million in 1996 for discharging lead and other pollutants into the Missouri River, ASARCO closed its Omaha plant in July 1997. After extensive site cleanup, the land was turned over to the City of Omaha as a park. All of East Omaha, comprising more than 8,000 acres (32 km2), was declared a Superfund site. As of 2003, 290 acres (1.2 km2) had been cleaned. In 1991 the Coeur d'Alene Tribe filed suit under CERCLA against Hecla Mining Company, ASARCO and other defendants for damages and cleanup costs downstream of what has been designated as the Bunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex Superfund site. Contamination had affected Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Saint Joe River, as well as related waters and lands, and cleanup had been under way since the early 1980s. In 1996 the United States joined the suit. In 2008 after emerging from bankruptcy, ASARCO LLC settled for $452 million for contributions to this site. This was part of a nearly $2 billion settlement (see below) with the US for a total of 26 sites. After emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, ASARCO made a settlement with the government of $1.79 billion for contamination at various sites; the funds were allotted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for cleanup at 26 sites around the country.

ASARCO's Tar Creek Superfund site was the subject of the film documentary Tar Creek (2009), made by Matt Myers. At one time, Tar Creek was considered to be the worst environmental problem on the EPA's list of more than 1200 sites.