September 16, 2011 - A collision Wednesday night between a semi truck hauling molten sulphur and a pickup truck resulted in a hazmat situation and the closure of Safford/Bryce Road for nearly 13 hours.  According to a press release from the Graham County Sheriff's Office, the County Dispatch received a call regarding the collision at about 6:21 p.m. The incident occurred as both vehicles were westbound on Safford/Bryce Road just west of Branding Iron Road.  According to Sheriff P.J. Allred, the driver of the semi truck, Dwayne Elders of Thatcher, was attempting to pass the pickup truck when the collision occurred. Apparently, the driver of the pickup truck, Dana Carrasco of Safford, attempted to make a left turn into a private driveway when she was sideswiped by the semi. The semi rolled onto its side and stretched across both lanes of the road. Allred told the Courier that Elders said the pickup truck didn't have its turn signal on, but Carrasco insisted that she did.  Elders was transported to the Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center by Southwest Ambulance where he was treated and released. He suffered a head laceration and fractured collar and rib bones, according to Allred.  Carrasco had her 4-year-old daughter with her in a child safety car seat, and neither was injured.  Molten sulphur began leaking out of the top cap of the transport tanker but was quickly contained and handled by the Safford Fire Department. Hazmat teams from the Department of Public Safety traveled from Globe and Tucson and assisted with the leak as well. According to the United States government Material Safety Data Sheet, molten sulphur gives off an odor of rotten eggs and is flammable.  It can cause eye and skin irritation and should only be used with adequate ventilation.  Safford Assistant Fire Chief Tony Goodman told the Courier that the biggest issue with dealing with the molten sulphur was that it was hot. He said the department sprayed down the leak with water to cool it.  Once it was cooled, the molten sulphur solidified. Members of the Fire Department worked the scene until 4 a.m. to keep the molten sulphur contained.  "The only hazard is that it's hot. As soon as it hits air, it cools down and solidifies pretty quickly . . ." Goodman said.  Representatives from Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Savage Trucking also assisted with the crash recovery. The semi is registered to Savage Trucking and was transporting molten sulphur to Freeport's Safford Operations copper mine.  Freeport representatives brought a crane to assist with the removal of the semi. Tow trucks from Barnett Towing from Willcox and Tucson were also used to set the semi upright and remove it from the road.  Personnel from the Graham County Highway Division were also on hand to assist with the cleanup and fix damage to the road. The road remained closed from Landfill Road to the Talley wash until about 7 a.m. on Thursday.  According to the Sheriff's Office, the cause of the crash is yet to be determined and is under investigation with assistance from a Graham County Attorney's office crash reconstructionist.

September 29, 2010 - The sulphur burner at the Freeport-McMoRan copper mine at Safford is approximately 35 percent complete.  The construction of the facility is on schedule, and completion is expected in the late first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2011, Freeport spokesman Richard Peterson said in an e-mail to the Courier.  Peterson also said about 170 contracted construction workers are on-site. That number is expected to increase to about 250 later this year.  “The construction crews have been very safety conscious, working 92,000 man-hours with no (time lost to injuries) and only one reportable injury,” Peterson said.  “Also, a milestone was recently achieved when the 15-megawatt steam turbine was set into place. It will drive a generator to produce electricity.”   Peterson said in April the electricity produced is more than what is needed to operate the sulphur burner. The extra wattage will be used to support part of the electricity needed for the Safford mine.  The sulphur burner will produce sulfuric acid, which is required in copper recovery from raw ore.  Until the sulphur burner is complete, trucks will still deliver sulphuric acid to the Safford mine.  Even after the sulphur burner is in operation, the mine will require delivery of sulphuric acid, although the number of deliveries will be reduced, Paul Cook of Freeport told members of the Local Emergency Planning Committee last month.

September 3, 2010 - Sulfuric acid produced at Freeport-McMoRan's Safford mine will probably remain on site and the mine will require additional acid to be shipped in, members of the Local Emergency Planning Committee recently learned.  Paul Cook of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold presented information about the dangers of sulphuric acid during the Aug. 26 LEPC meeting.  According to Cook, trucks carrying concentrated sulfuric acid bear signs with the numerals 1830 on them. Some of these trucks will remain on the highways because the sulfur plant at the Safford mine will not produce enough acid for the mine and more will have to be trucked to the site. It is also unlikely that acid produced at the Safford mine will be shipped elsewhere.

April 28, 2010 - Freeport-McMoRan is ramping up activity at two Arizona mining operations.  It will begin construction on a sulphur burning plant at the Dos Pobres Copper mine in Safford. The plant will produce sulfuric acid, which is used to extract copper from ore.  The $150 million project had been delayed for 16 months.  It's expected to provide about 250 jobs during construction.  The plant should be operational in 2011.   Freeport-McMoRan is also raising production at its Morenci mine and hiring 400 workers to meet demand.  More than 1,500 jobs were cut in Morenci in 2008 and 2009 as demand for copper fell and dragged prices down from record highs.

April 25, 2010 - After a 16-month delay, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold will move ahead with construction of a sulphur-burning plant at the Dos Pobres copper mine at Safford.  The sulphur burner will produce sulfuric acid, which is required in copper recovery from raw ore.  While the sulphur burner is expected to require few new permanent employees, about 250 construction employees will work on the project at its peak, according to Freeport spokesman Richard Peterson. He did not specify how long the project’s “peak” period will be.   The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality approved revisions of Freeport’s air quality permit in the fall of 2008 to allow construction of the sulphur burner. Freeport shelved the project in December 2008 in response to declining economic conditions in the copper industry and the United States economy as a whole.  The project is expected to cost approximately $150 million. Completion of the “highly automated plant” is expected in about a year, Peterson said in an e-mail response to questions from the Courier.  “The plant will burn elemental sulphur that will be brought by railcar to a transfer facility that will be built southeast of Fort Thomas. Sulphur will be transferred from the railcars to trucks for transportation to the sulphur burning plant,” Peterson said.  Although there will be an average of 18 trucks a day, the transport plan is expected to reduce overall track traffic on Highway 70 because every truck of elemental sulphur will replace two trucks of acid, according to Peterson.   He also said the plant will have a capacity of approximately 465,000 tons of sulfuric acid per year.  Waste heat from the sulphur burner will be used to produce 15 megawatts of electric power.This is 10 more than needed to operate the acid plant. The remainder will be used to support part of the electricity demand from the Safford mine.