Phelps Dodge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Phelps Dodge Corporation | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: PD) |
| Founded | 1834 |
| Headquarters | Phoenix, Arizona, USA |
| Key people | J. Steven Whisler, Chairman & CEO |
| Industry | Copper Mining |
| Revenue | ▲$11.910 billion USD (2006) |
| Operating income | ▲$4.226 billion USD (2006) |
| Net income | ▲$3.017 billion USD (2006) |
| Employees | 15,000 (2006) |
| Website | www.phelpsdodge.com |
Phelps Dodge Corporation is a former United States company founded in 1834 by Anson Greene Phelps and William E. Dodge. On March 19, 2007, it was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan and now operates under the name Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
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[edit] History
Initially, Phelps Dodge operated an import-export trade business that shipped U.S.-grown cotton to England in exchange for tin, iron, copper and other metals essential for growth and development of the new American nation.
As time went on, the company began its own mining operations as the western United States frontier expanded, and its mineral wealth, especially copper, started being discovered. The company focused largely on providing copper wire and cables to industry that became in high demand as the Industrial Revolution took hold. As the company diversified, it began investing in new railroads, essential in the company’s efforts to establish itself in the west, especially copper-rich Arizona, and to transport products to and from its markets on the eastern/northeastern shores. During the late 19th century, in concert with its metal interests, Phelps Dodge Corporation became one of the largest producers of lumber and lumber products in the United States. It also became notorious for its anti-union views, primarily for its kidnapping of nearly 1,300 striking miners and the seizure of the telegraph and telephone lines in the town of Bisbee, Arizona, during the Bisbee Deportation in 1917.[1]
In South America, the company had several very large copper mining operations in Chile and Peru. In the Congo, Phelps Dodge Corporation was the majority owner and operator of the Tenke Fungurume project, generally considered to be the world's largest undeveloped copper/cobalt project.[citation needed]
A subsidiary of Phelps Dodge Corporation, Climax Molybdenum is the largest primary producer of molybdenum in the world. At the Henderson mine west of Empire, Colorado, Climax Molybdenum has produced more than 160 million tons of ore and 770 million pounds of molybdenum since the mine opened in 1976.
The historic Phelps Dodge General Office Building in Bisbee, Arizona was declared a National Historic Landmark of the U.S. in 1983.
The Phelps Dodge copper mine at Morenci, Arizona was the site of a violent strike from 1983 to 1986, culminating in one of the largest union decertifications in American labor history.
The company employed more than 13,500 people worldwide.
[edit] Expansion and acquisition
On Sunday, November 19, 2006, Freeport-McMoRan announced that it planned to acquire Phelps Dodge for $25.9 billion in cash and stock to create the world's largest publicly traded copper mining company. Stockholders for both companies voted on the proposal March 14, 2007. On Monday, March 19, 2007, Phelps Dodge Corporation was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), creating the world's largest publicly traded copper company, with 25,000 employees at acquisition.
By the time of its acquisition in 2007, Phelps Dodge Corporation had large copper mining operations in Bagdad, Arizona, Morenci, Arizona, Sierrita, Arizona, Miami, Arizona, and Tyrone, New Mexico, and the El Chino Mine in New Mexico. Several of these locations provide ores rich in molybdenum as well. It had recently begun development of the Safford Mine near Safford, Arizona.
[edit] Environmental record
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Phelps Dodge as the 23rd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 3.64 million pounds of toxins released annually into the air. Major pollutants included sulfuric acid, chromium compounds, lead compounds, and chlorine.[2][3] The Center for Public Integrity has reported that Phelps Dodge is named as a potentially responsible party in at least 13 Superfund toxic waste sites. [4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Byrkit, James. "The Bisbee Deportation." In American Labor in the Southwest. James C. Foster, ed. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1982. ISBN 0816507414
- ^ Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100 retrieved 14 Aug 2007
- ^ Toxics Release Inventory data at rtknet.org
- ^ Center for Public Integrity
[edit] References
- Cleland, Robert Glass. A History of Phelps Dodge, 1834-1950. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952.
