copper pima mining company pima mining com pany operates an open-pit copper mine located approximately 25 miles south of tucson arizona the company owns 25 of the outstanding stock of this corpora tion the remaining 75 is owned by cyprus mines corporation 50 and union oil company of california 25 pima operates an open-pit mine and flo tation plant producing copper concen trate with molybdenite concentrate as a by-product it is planned that the mill now capable of processing in excess of 38,000 tons of ore daily may be expanded to 53,000 tons per day the costs of such expansion would be financed from internal cash flow the company's share of earnings to taled 4,155,000 in the 1969 fiscal year after provision for distribution taxes an increase of 68 over last year's earnings of 2,476,000 this outstanding perform ance which is a new record for pima was accomplished through increased produc tion of concentrate realization of higher copper prices than previously experi enced and the sale of concentrate pro duced but not shipped during the previous year when smelters were not operating because of strikes 146 million pounds of copper in concentrate were sold by pima this year as compared to 97 million in 1 968 a mining company's island copper mine this copper-molyb denum ore deposit controlled by the company is located on a group of claims near port hardy vancouver island british columbia canada authorization was given in june 1969 to develop a mine and construct a 33,000 ton per day mill with supporting facilities which program wil require the investment of between 60 and 70 million to bring the project into opera tion it is estimated that production from the mine will begin in november of 1971 a market for 60 of the production from the island copper property for the first 10 years of operation has been estab lished through a contract with mitsui min ing & smelting co ltd approximately 140,000 tons of concentrate per year con taining approximately 30,000 tons of metal mitsubishi shoji kaisha ltd con tracted for the purchase of 30 of the production for a 5-year period the price will be based on london metal exchange quotations for copper prevailing at the time of delivery proven reserves based on drilling re sults are estimated to approximate 280 million tons of ore grading 0.52 copper and 0.025 molybdenite mineable by open-pit methods at a normal production rate 11.55 million tons of ore will be mined each year and approximately 230 000 tons of concentrates containing ap proximately 55,000 tons of metal will be produced other properties the company through its mineral development and geology de partment has large areas under explora tion and examination for various metals and non-metallics in addition to copper other minerals include iron coal uranium and precious metals such areas include western united states canada south america south africa the southwest pa cific and australia ottom : island copper bulk samples for pilot plant sting await shipment at the test shaft site heavy island copper property and analyzed by $ laboratory located in paloalto california