Cananea

Cananea
City
Heroica Ciudad de Cananea

Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Ciudad del Cobre (Copper City)

Municipality of Cananea in Sonora
Cananea

City of Cananea

Coordinates: 30°58′55″N 110°18′02″W / 30.98194°N 110.30056°W / 30.98194; -110.30056Coordinates: 30°58′55″N 110°18′02″W / 30.98194°N 110.30056°W / 30.98194; -110.30056
Country Mexico
State Sonora
Municipality Cananea
Government
  Type Council-Manager Government
  Mayor of Cananea Lic. Fernando Herrera Moreno PRI Party (Mexico).svg
Elevation 1,620 m (5,310 ft)
Population (2010)
  Total 31,560
Time zone MST (UTC-7)
Postal code 84620 - 84635
Area code(s) 645
Demonym Cananense
Website www.cananea.gob.mx
Col. William C. Greene addresses striking miners in Cananea, 1906. Photo courtesy SMU.

Cananea (from the Apache term for "horse meat") is a city in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, Northwestern Mexico. It is the seat of the Municipality of Cananea, on the U.S−Mexico border.

The population of the city was 31,560 as recorded by the 2010 census. The population of the municipality, which includes rural areas, was 32,936. The total area of the municipality is approximately 4,100 square kilometres (1,600 sq mi).

History

The first non-indigenous inhabitants of the present day Cananea, arrived in 1760 from other parts of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial México). Jesuit priests discovered gold and silver, and opened mines using the indigenous peoples for labor.

In the 19th century General Ignacio Pesqueira, from nearby Arizpe, retired to Cananea. He fought against the Apache who raided the area. One time, while following them into the mountains, he discovered the abandoned Spanish mines and by 1868 he had renewed the extraction of minerals in the Cananea mines. General Pesqueira's wife, Elena Pesqueira Pesqueira, "discovered" a nearby mountain range (sierra) and the General named the highest peak La Elenita ("The Little Helen", 9,327 feet or 2,843 meters above sea level) in her honor. The other peak is named La Mariquita ("The Little Mary", 8,123 feet or 2,476 meters above sea level).

In 1889 William Cornell Greene purchased the mine from General Pesqueira and founded the Nogales, Sonora-based company, The Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, S. A. (CCCC or 4C). In June 1906, a labor dispute erupted into the violent cross-border Cananea strike, that resulted in the death of 23 people and dozens injured, in a fight between the strikers and a posse led by Arizona Rangers from the United States. A corrido titled La cárcel de Cananea ("Cananea jail") written in 1917 and commemorating the incident has since become famous. At the time of the strike the population of 23,000 included 7,000 Americans and 5,000 Chinese.[1]

On October 31, 1901, the area became a municipality with Cananea town as its seat. On July 11, 1957, Cananea town became a city.

Cananea Jail

The Cananea jail was built in 1903 and is located in downtown Cananea. It was the first public jail of the city and is currently a museum "Museo de la Lucha Obrera" with exhibitions of photographs and instruments used in mining.

La carcel de Cananea or The Cananea Jail song is a corrido that has become part of the culture of Cananea and the state of Sonora. It describes the experiences of a man accused of murdering Chinese immigrants while at this jail. According to historian Rodolfo Rascón, a man called Francisco, nicknamed El Cucharón de Batuc ("The Big Spoon of Batuc"), wrote the song in 1917.

Climate

The municipality of Cananea has a sub-humid Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), with an average monthly maximum temperature of 74.3 °F (23.5 °C) in the months of June to September and an average monthly minimum of 45.3 °F (7.4 °C) in December and January; the average annual temperature is 59.5 °F (15.3 °C).

Atypically for the Mediterranean climate type, the dry season occurs in spring and early summer, whereas the rainy season is in mid/late summer and autumn. Through winter the rains are less intense, but of longer duration. Called “equipatas”, they can fall in the form of snow. In the months of February, March, and April there are frequent frosts, hailstorms, and occasional snowstorms. Precipitation averages at 511 millimetres (20 in) annually.

Climate data for Cananea, Sonora (1971-2000, extremes (1951-present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 34.0
(93.2)
28.0
(82.4)
29.0
(84.2)
39.0
(102.2)
39.0
(102.2)
45.0
(113)
42.0
(107.6)
39.0
(102.2)
40.0
(104)
33.0
(91.4)
29.4
(84.9)
27.0
(80.6)
45.0
(113)
Average high °C (°F) 14.5
(58.1)
16.7
(62.1)
17.9
(64.2)
22.4
(72.3)
26.0
(78.8)
32.1
(89.8)
30.8
(87.4)
30.1
(86.2)
28.2
(82.8)
23.9
(75)
17.8
(64)
14.3
(57.7)
22.9
(73.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 8.5
(47.3)
10.3
(50.5)
11.5
(52.7)
15.5
(59.9)
18.7
(65.7)
24.1
(75.4)
23.7
(74.7)
23.6
(74.5)
21.4
(70.5)
17.2
(63)
11.8
(53.2)
8.4
(47.1)
16.2
(61.2)
Average low °C (°F) 2.5
(36.5)
4.0
(39.2)
5.1
(41.2)
8.6
(47.5)
11.3
(52.3)
16.1
(61)
16.6
(61.9)
17.0
(62.6)
14.5
(58.1)
10.4
(50.7)
5.8
(42.4)
2.5
(36.5)
9.5
(49.1)
Record low °C (°F) −14.0
(6.8)
−8.4
(16.9)
−7.0
(19.4)
−4.4
(24.1)
1.0
(33.8)
6.0
(42.8)
8.0
(46.4)
7.0
(44.6)
5.0
(41)
−2.5
(27.5)
−5.0
(23)
−10.0
(14)
−14.0
(6.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 45.5
(1.791)
28.7
(1.13)
24.1
(0.949)
6.2
(0.244)
7.6
(0.299)
17.5
(0.689)
123.9
(4.878)
89.6
(3.528)
56.2
(2.213)
46.1
(1.815)
22.5
(0.886)
42.8
(1.685)
510.7
(20.107)
Average precipitation days 3.3 2.4 2.1 0.8 0.8 2.3 12.5 8.7 4.9 3.6 1.8 3.1 46.3
Source: Servicio Meteorológico Nacional[2][3]

City Government

Mayors

Cananea in 1908
1970-1973 Roberto Elzy Torres PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1973-1976 Jesús Ahumada Barreda PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1976-1979 Héctor Lavander León PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1979-1982 Roberto Torres Carbajal PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1982-1985 Gildardo Monge Reyes PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1985-1988 Rafael Carrillo Monzón PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1988-1991 Francisco Javier Taddei Taddei PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1991-1994 Gildardo Monge Escárcega PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1994-1997 Héctor René Tagles Zavala PRI Party (Mexico).svg
1997-2000 Francisco García Gamez PAN (Mexico).svg
2000-2003 Mario César Cuen Aranda PAN (Mexico).svg
2003-2006 Francisco García Gamez PAN (Mexico).svg
2006-2009 Luis Carlos Cha Flores PAN (Mexico).svg
2009-2012 Jesús Reginaldo Moreno García PRI Party (Mexico).svg
2012-2015 Francisco Javier Tarazón Curlango PAN (Mexico).svg
2015-2018 Fernando Herrera Moreno PRI Party (Mexico).svg

Economy

The large Cananea copper mine produced almost 164,000 tonnes of copper in 2006.

Mining

Mining is the main source of revenue for Cananea and will be for the foreseeable future. Eighty percent of the population is directly or indirectly supported by mining companies in Cananea. The first and most important mining company is Buenavista del Cobre, S.A. de C.V. (formerly Mexicana de Cananea, S.A. de C.V.) owned by the Southern Copper Corporation,[4] and still shares ownership with Grupo Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V.[5] The Mining Operations Director assigned to Cananea is Isaac López Arzola. Grupo Mexico plans to invest $3.7 Billion US Dollars at the Cananea Mine. This program is expected to increase Buenavista´s production capacity from 180,000 tons of copper per year to over 450,000 tons. During 2Q11, Buenavista reached its full capacity and produced 45,588 tons of copper: 15,170 tons of copper cathode at its SX/EW Plant and 30,417 tons of copper concentrate at the Concentrator Plant. Cananea is among the world's largest copper mines in terms of reserves.

A miners strike at the Buenavista del Cobre mine lasted almost three years, until broken on the night of June 6, 2010, when Mexican police dispersed striking workers.[6] On June 6, 2011, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (“CTM”) was granted the collective bargaining agreement for the Buenavista union, replacing the miner's National Union of Mining and Metallurgical Workers Sindicate, Section No.65 (Labor Union), headed by Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.

The second and smaller active copper mine is "Minera Maria", owned by Minera Frisco, S.A.B. de C.V. a Mexican company controlled by Carlos Slim Helú and family, including Inmobiliaria Carso, S.A. de C.V. and located west of Cananea. The plant has an installed monthly production capacity of 2,500 tons of copper cathode.

Industry

Industry is the second most important activity in the local economy, generating around 3,100 jobs. There is a modest industrial park situated north of the town with an area of 53 acres (210,000 m2). There are several companies operating as maquiladoras. The most important are Stewart Connector Systems de México, S.A.; Fundidora de Cananea, S.A. and Road Machinery Company de México, S.A. which together provide 600 jobs and are involved in diverse activities, from cable assembly to production of steel.

Agriculture

Cattle raising is important and there were approximately 16,000 head in the last census.

Farming consists mainly of corn, potatoes, beans, sorghum, alfalfa, barley, and apples. Most of these crops are used for local consumption and cattle fodder. The infrastructure consists of 30 wells, equipped with a system of electrical motors, and 10 kilometers (6 mi) of reinforced canals used for irrigation.

Twin towns

Notable residents

References

  1. "WENT AGAINST ORDERS; Governor of Arizona Warned Capt. Rynning and Other Americans", New York Times, June 3, 1906.
  2. "NORMALES CLIMATOLÓGICAS 1971-2000" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  3. "Extreme Temperatures and Precipitation for Cananea 1951-2010" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  4. Southern Copper Corporation. (NYSE:SCCO Archived October 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. Grupo Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV:GMEXICO Archived March 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. Elisabeth Malkin (June 7, 2010). "Police Officers End a Mine Strike in Mexico". New York Times.
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