RR to cut runs to Morenci mine By Walter Mares Copper Era Managing Editor The national and global economic downturn is more powerful than a locomotive, literally. In fact, real locomotives are being slowed by the major money slump. Take the Arizona Eastern Railway, for example. The line that serves the Freeport McMoRan copper mines in Morenci and Safford has laid off 20 workers and has experienced a significant decrease in the number of railroad cars it hauls in and out of the Morenci mine. That is a result of production cutbacks at the mine, which in turn resulted from the current national and global recession. The price of copper skidded from $4 a pound last July and hit bottom at about $1.25 in December. Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. announced last week it is cutting back production at the Morenci mine and in March is laying off 1,550 Morenci mine workers, about half of the mine's remaining workforce. FMI had 4,000 workers at Morenci at the peak of the copper boom and laid off 400 in November. Since then, an additional 300 or so have either retired or been lost through attrition. None of AZER's employees laid off are from Greenlee County. At the height of the boom the Arizona Eastern Railway was hauling as many as 1,500 cars a month in and out of Morenci, according to General Manager Dennis Giacoletti. At present, 800-900 cars are being moved for the Morenci mine. How that number stands up depends on production at the mine. "If the economy and the mine output continue to drop, we would have to take a look at that," Giacoletti said. The Clifton Subdivi-sion, as the route to Morenci is called, operates 67 miles of track from Clifton to Lordsburg, N.M. The trains on that line will operate five days a week instead of seven days. However, if there is enough freight, it will operate seven days a week. AZER hauls sulfuric acid and diesel fuel to the Morenci mine and hauls away copper cathodes from FMI's solvent extraction-electrowinning plant. The railroad also hauls some copper concentrate to and from the mine. Other sections of AZER are being affected by the major slump in copper. Giacoletti said train operations will fall from seven days a week to two days per week on the AZER Mainline Subdivision, which operates more than 135 miles of track from Miami to Bowie. FMI-Miami shut its smelter down for an estimated 35 days for repairs, which made the biggest impact on the Mainline Sub. The AZER took over the Clifton-Lordsburg line from Union Pacific in March 2008. The line has been in existence for about a century. It was built by the Arizona & New Mexico Railway in the early 1900s. The A&NMRR built the two-story Clifton train station in 1913, anticipating a population boom of around 20,000 in Clifton and Morenci. A major economic recession, or depression, took its tolls on the local copper mines and railroad, and the boom never occurred. The line was sold to the El Paso & Southwestern in the 1920s and after about five years, was sold to Southern Pacific Railroad. It operated the line until Union Pacific bought out SP about five years ago. The FMI Morenci mine continues to operate its own rail line, which hauls cars to and from the switching yard in Clifton.
