Pinto Valley copper restart announced; 600+ new jobs

We missed the announcement a week ago that BHP Billiton will restart mining at its Pinto Valley operation, located between Globe and Superior. The company says "the mine, which will produce copper and molybdenum concentrate, will have annual production capacity of approximately 60,000 tons of copper in concentrate. The project will create approximately 650 new jobs with mining expected to resume at the end of the 2012 calendar year." [Right, Pinto Valley mine. Credit, Superstitionmtnhikes.com]

BHP Billiton Base Metals North America Asset President, Wayne Isaacs, said: “We will be hiring more than six hundred new team members and look forward to working with local communities to safely restart the mine.” The company spent $195 million on the restart.

BHP announced the mine shut down in January 2009, due to the global economic downturn.