7 Mar 2019 - Last day at Tucson: Titan II Missile Museum, Copper Mine Tour

7 Mar 2019

Another great day in Tuscon AZ, but unfortunately it is our last day. We should have programmed more days for this stop, but we have baseball tickets already bought for games in Mesa, so we need to keep on schedule and depart in the morning.  Tomorrow morning we will head up the road to the Phoenix area, Apache Junction to be exact, and we will be there 8-17 March. 

Today we drove about 20 miles south to Sahuarita, AZ and the Titan II Missile Museum. "The Titan II was  a 2-stage, silo-stored, silo-launched, liquid-propelled Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). It was stored in a hardened underground silo with its liquid propellant on board, so that it was ready to launch at all times. An ICBM is a missile specifically designed to carry a nuclear warhead from one continent to another. These missiles are ballistic because, like the shell from a gun, they receive a brief but powerful initial push from a rocket motor, then follow a ballistic free-flight trajectory to the target." 

The Titan II was the largest land-based missile ever deployed by the US.  It was equipped with a W-53 thermonuclear warhead which delivered 9 megatons of destructive power, the largest in history.

The W-53 thermonuclear warhead

"While the Titan II was designed for the purpose of carrying a nuclear warhead from the United States to another continent, it was built for another purpose altogether. And that purpose was that the Titan II would never launch at all. The primary mission of the Titan II was “Peace Through Deterrence.” America’s strategy in deploying the Titan II was to deter nuclear attacks from other countries. It accomplished this by demonstrating that the US had the ability to retaliate against a nuclear strike to such a degree that the attacking country would be virtually destroyed, even if that country launched its weapons first. For 24 years, nearly a quarter of a century, Titan II missiles stood guard over America, fulfilling this mission."

Site 571-7 is the last remaining of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987 when the last Titan II came off alert status.  As part of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaty between the United States and Russia, the useful equipment was stripped from the missile silos and then the top 25 feet of silo was blasted with 2800 pounds of explosives.  Site 571-7 was retained as a museum and the silo was equipped with a training missile from Sheppard Air Force Base.  This missile has never been fueled so it is safe to use in the museum.

So we entered the museum and bought tickets for the 11:00 tour, which lasts about 1 hr 20 minutes.  We had about 30 minutes to wait, so we walked around the museum which was full of displays and pictures.

The museum display area and gift shop

It is interesting the 'before' and 'after' pictures.

When the site was being built in 1962

An aerial view in 2012.  Look at how the area has grown

We will see this entire setup underground on our tour today.

SAC

Airmen assigned to work the missile missions got to wear this awesome blue fatigue uniform.
 Ours were OD green.

Safe that stored classified material.  Use a system called TPI (two person integrity). 
Each person had to remove their own lock for access.

The Titan II sites near Tucson

So the time came to start our tour.  It started in a classroom where we watched a movie about the Titan II. 

We then proceeded outside to the entrance of the silo complex.  Our tour guides did a great job pf explaining everything.

The crew entrance where we descended into the complex

The first door with four huge hydraulically-controlled locking cylinders

The cabling has slack so it can flex without breaking in case of a nearby
nuclear detonation from an enemy missile

 Inside the Control Center our tour guide explained everything about the operation.  

Large springs absorb vibration from a nearby detonation

This is the primary launch control console

The young man from Pella Iowa was enlisted by the tour guide to help 'launch' the missile

He turns the key simultaneously with the other controller, and the missile would launch.

From the Control Center we made our way into the missile silo.

The top of the missile.  The warhead would be inside the black nose cone

Around the side of the missile

We then headed back up stairs and outside where we started.  Our tour guide took us over to the silo door area and explained about the Doppler radar system that would detect if anyone or anything approached the missile silo.

The silo door

The missile, looking down from the partially open silo door

They have several radio systems to communicate should the phone lines become inoperative.  They also have redundant antennas that could be raised and lowered from the control center. 

There were also some displays nearby, including parts of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 rocket motors.

Security vehicle would respond to alarms or issues at the site

This is how the crew, maintenance personnel and security would enter the complex.  

We finished up the tour and were going to head back to the RV Park, but there was a huge copper mine not far from the missile museum, so we decided to stop.  

The Asarco Mineral Discovery Center consists of an indoor educational area and outside displays of old mining equipment.

 "The Mission open-pit copper mine was at one time five separate mining properties, but over the years, Asarco has combined them into one integrated mining operation. The mine occupies around 20,000 acres of private, State leased, and Indian land." The mine is operated in three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

Tailings and overburden, the materials removed to get to the copper ore

The mine is unbelievably deep. 

Each year the mine has the capacity to process about 260,000 tons of copper concentrates which yields 132,700,000 pounds of copper and 1,234,000 ounces of silver. Annually, the Mission mine pays royalties and taxes to the State of Arizona and royalties to the Tohono O’odham Indian nation.

At the South Mill, the copper ore is ground into a powder so the copper minerals can be separated by the froth flotation process. One of our AMDC staff members is here to explain what happens at the mill and to answer your questions.

Mined material containing copper is loaded into the mill

The South Mill

The pulverized tailings are separated with water 

Lime is used in the process to remove other materials such as silver, etc from the copper

These are steel balls used to pulverize the ore for processing

These big drums contain the steel balls which crush the material

Chemical processes used to separate the copper and other materials

Tailings pond in the distance where the water is reclaimed

Huge tires on the trucks.  This is one of the smaller ones!

Old scoop used to load materials

1974 Wabco Haulpak - 75 tons capacity

1975 Terex Haul Truck - 170 tons capacity

Huge tires

Komatsu 830 Haul Truck

Massive truck!

1900's road grader

We returned to the RV Park, dumped the tanks, picked up, cleaned up, washed the truck, did several loads of laundry, and prepared to depart in the morning.

Next report - Apache Junction AZ!