COPPER: Strike for Magma

Four centuries ago, in search of the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado beat a trail along the San Pedro River in southeast Arizona. Coronado never found the fabled wealth of the cities. But in recent years, evidence of other riches—in the form of big copper and molybdenum deposits—has been found by prospectors along the San Pedro. During World War II, the Magma Copper Co., seventh biggest U.S. copper producer, took out an option and set up a subsidiary, the San Manuel Copper Corp., to explore the deposit. In the past seven years, Magma President Alexander...

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