Editing ASARCO (section)

== History ==
[[File:Murray Smoke Stacks.jpg|thumb|ASARCO lead smelter in Murray, Utah; January 1, 1922]]

ASARCO was founded in 1888 as the American Smelting and Refining Company by [[Henry H. Rogers]], [[William Rockefeller]], [[Adolph Lewisohn]], Robert S. Towne, [[Anton Eilers]], and [[Leonard Lewisohn (philanthropist)|Leonard Lewisohn]]. From 1901 to 1959, American Smelting and Refining was included in the [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]].

In April 1901, the [[Guggenheim family]] gained control of the company, and in 1905, bought the Tacoma smelter from the [[Bunker Hill Mining Company]]. ASARCO eventually controlled 90% of the U.S. lead production, essentially becoming a smelter [[trust (business)|trust]].<ref name="Aiken">{{cite book |last1=Aiken |first1=Katherine |title=Idaho's Bunker Hill: the rise and fall of a great mining company, 1885–1981 |date=15 January 2008 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |isbn=978-0-8061-3898-5 |pages=65–67}}</ref>

On January 11, 1916, sixteen ASARCO employees [[Santa Isabel massacre|were killed and mutilated]] by [[Pancho Villa]]'s men near the town of [[Santa Isabel, Chihuahua]]. It was one of the incidents that sparked the [[Pancho Villa Expedition|Mexican Expedition]], a United States Army attempt to capture or kill Villa.

Based in [[Tucson, Arizona]], the company grew to conduct [[mining]], [[smelting]], and [[refining]] of primarily copper. [[Open-pit mining]] is primarily utilized as the most efficient method of recovering this metal; the company's three largest such works are the [[Copper mining in Arizona|Mission, Silver Bell, and the Ray mines]] in Arizona. The company had also operated in silver mining in Idaho. Its mines produce {{convert|350,000,000|to|400,000,000|lb|sigfig=2}} of copper a year.

ASARCO conducts [[solvent extraction and electrowinning]] at the Ray and Silver Bell mines in [[Pima County, Arizona]], and [[Pinal County, Arizona]], and operates a smelter in [[Hayden, Arizona]]. It also had a smelting plant in [[El Paso, Texas]], operations of which were suspended.

In 1975 it officially changed its name to ASARCO Incorporated. In 1999 it was acquired by Grupo México, which had begun as ASARCO's 49%-owned Mexican subsidiary in 1965.

On August 9, 2005, the company filed for [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] in [[Corpus Christi, Texas|Corpus Christi]],<ref name="Newmont-Mining-Oct-2005-10-Q">{{cite web|url=http://edgar.secdatabase.com/2534/119312505211099/filing-main.htm |title=Newmont Mining, Form 10-Q, Quarterly Report, Filing Date Oct 28, 2005 |publisher=secdatabase.com |access-date =Jan 15, 2013}}</ref> [[Texas]] under then-president Daniel Tellechea.

As of 2019, ASARCO operates two primary locations in the United States, a mining and smelting complex in Arizona and a copper refinery in [[Amarillo, Texas]].