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hydrometallurgy. The company, backed by Phelps Dodge, also acquired claims adjacent and above the rich United Verde mine at Jerome. Here too
Ricketts failed to find profitable ore. Similarly, at Globe, efforts to open several claims for the Phelps Dodge proved marginal. In 1893, he returned to Silverton, Colorado invested in a silver mine, built a mill, and went bankrupt. The failure educated him not to build a costly mill before opening an ore reserve large enough to pay the bills, let alone make a profit. By the mid-1890s, Ricketts was rehired by Douglas and sent to northern Sonora, Mexico, with hopes of finding copper properties.
270:(1911-1916). At Ajo, his fortune was made. With help of staffs of chemists this leaching technology was adopted at other works, such as his introduction of the process at Inspiration, and was a direct descendant of his work for Dr. Douglas in 1891. This process is the basis for all modern leaching (or solvent) processes used in copper mines around the world. He later flirted with California oil projects, Chilean copper mines, and Chihuahua, Mexico railroads and silver-lead mines, but his great works had been completed.
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247:, rebuilding its metallurgical works. Since 1907, Arizona copper mines have produced over half the nation's copper, much of the first three decades of this copper was processed through mills designed by Ricketts. On November 18, 1915, because of his work in developing the state's mineral resources, the governor of Arizona honored Ricketts with a medal and special ceremony at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, as the "most distinguished citizen of Arizona."
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University of
Arizona in 1916, and doctor of engineering from Princeton in 1925. He was elected a Trustee to Princeton, where he maintained a home for his mother and sister (formerly the home of friend, President Woodrow Wilson), and was a donor to and served as trustee of Caltech. In 1940 he was awarded the gold medal, named after his mentor James Douglas, of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers.
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deposit by mass methods. As first manager of The
Moctezuma Copper Company, Ricketts planned and constructed a modern mine, concentrator, smelter and townsite, connected by railroad. The plant was innovative in that it was constructed of steel frame, and the works powered by electricity. By 1901, when
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His first years were filled with more failures than successes. In 1891, Douglas appointed
Ricketts manager of the Commercial Mining Company (Phelps Dodge owned) to introduce the Southwest's first Hunt-Douglas process leaching plant at Copper Basin, near Prescott. It burned down, a premature test of
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In 1916, he was recognized for his contributions by his election as president of the
American Institute of Mining Engineers. Earlier, in 1910, he had been recognized with the gold medal from the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Great Britain. He received the degree of L. L. D. from the
243:(Phelps Dodge controlled), for the Copper Queen (Phelps Dodge) at Douglas and Bisbee, at Miami, at Cananea, and at Clifton, plus a coal washing plant for Phelps Dodge at Dawson, New Mexico. During this period, he also served as president and general manager of the Anaconda interests at
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In 1901, he opened office as a consultant and became legendary for his designs of major metallurgical works during the early twentieth century copper boom. Over the next decade and a half, Ricketts designed new smelters and/or concentrators, for example, at Old
Dominion copper mine at
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he left the company, the
Pilares mine was a profitable, low-cost copper producer, mining ore with less than 3% copper, a record at the time. Also he had gained maturity as a mine manager and had become a sought after metallurgist.
291:, where he died in 1940. He retained his connection with Arizona, being chairman of the Valley National Bank, Phoenix, and a director of Phelps Dodge at the time of his death.
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Ricketts suffered a serious illness in 1917. While he did recover, and resumed his consulting practice, he did not undertake any major new projects. He retired to
170:, earning both a B.Sc. (1881) and D.Sc. (1883), being a Fellow in Chemistry and a Fellow in Economic Geology. He then went to Colorado and began at the bottom in
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Ricketts' most significant metallurgical innovations came in the 1910s. As a consulting engineer for the
Inspiration copper mine and International smelter in
178:, and, finally, as a consultant and expert witness on geology for mine lawsuits in Leadville, Aspen and elsewhere. In 1887-1890 he served as Geologist for
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In 1916, Ricketts married Kate Bruce
Greenway, widow of his partner John C Greenway's brother. They had no children. His brother
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family. Dr. Douglas put him in charge of redeveloping the property, in what became probably the first attempt to mine a
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Douglas, James (January 12, 1938). "James S Douglas
Recalls Early Mining History". Prescott Evening Courier.
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Louis D. Ricketts, 1859-1940, mining engineer, geologist, banker, industrialist, and builder of Arizona
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262:, in developing the innovative copper-leaching technology with electrolytic refining for ore from the
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Exploring, Mining, Leaching, and Concentrating Ores as Related to the Development of Ajo, Arizona
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In 1897, Dr. Ricketts recommended that Phelps Dodge buy the then-small Pilares mine in northern
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In this same time period, Dr. Ricketts designed another modern copper concentrator for the
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575:. New York: American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. pp. 255 passim.
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586:"Ricketts Honor Climaxes Typically American Life". Arizona Republic. October 20, 1939.
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Copper for America, the United States Copper Industry from Colonial Times to the 1990s
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675:"Prominent Couple Wed in Warren". Copper Era and Morenci Leader. April 28, 1916.
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as mine surveyor and assayer, then foreman of a short-lived mine operation near
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Vision & Enterprise, Exploring the History of Phelps Dodge Corporation
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plant at a major copper works. Also significant was his work, with
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Financing the Frontier, A Fifty Year History of Valley National Bank
190:(PD) and began his long mining career in the Southwest borderlands.
535:. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. pp. 131–147, passim.
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413:. San Francsico: Mining & Scientific Press. pp.
396:. New York: Newcomen Society of England, American Branch.
254:(1912–1915), owned by Anaconda, he introduced the first
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Bulletin of the American Institute of Mining Engineers
683:"Dr. Louis D. Ricketts" in Forrest R. Rickard, 1996,
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Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico and Morenci, Arizona with PD
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126:(December 19, 1859 – March 4, 1940) was an American
298:was president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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476:. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. pp.
457:. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 131–134.
505:. Phoenix: Arizona Printers. pp. passim.
222:(another Phelps Dodge controlled company) at
348:Press Reference Library Notables of the West
687:(Ajo, Arizona, self-published), LC 96-92729
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166:on December 19, 1859. He was educated at
220:Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona
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616:. Berkeley, California: Howell-North.
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375:"Louis Davidson Ricketts, President"
601:. Ajo, Arizona: Forrest R. Rickard.
182:. In 1890 he was recruited by Dr.
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234:Preeminent consultant metallurgist
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410:Interviews with Mining Engineers
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685:The Development of Ajo, Arizona
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520:. Tucson: Arizona Daily Star.
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142:who pioneered development of
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726:Princeton University alumni
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146:mines in the U.S. state of
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645:(27): 1–2. April 18, 1917.
468:Schwantes, Carlos (2000).
381:(110): iv–vii. March 1916.
353:International News Service
701:American mining engineers
597:Rickard, Forrest (1996).
455:A History of Phelps Dodge
363:– via Google Books.
150:and the Mexican state of
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501:Hopkins, Ernest (1950).
453:Cleland, Robert (1952).
407:Rickard, Thomas (1922).
639:Princeton Alumni Weekly
612:Joralemon, Ira (1973).
571:Parsons, A. B. (1933).
392:Bimson, Walter (1949).
124:Louis Davidson Ricketts
41:Louis Davidson Ricketts
531:Hyde, Charles (1998).
260:John Campbell Greenway
162:Ricketts was born in
573:The Porphyry Coppers
560:. November 19, 1915.
518:Who's Who in Arizona
516:Conners, Jo (1913).
289:Pasadena, California
228:Valley National Bank
168:Princeton University
85:Princeton University
74:Pasadena, California
706:American geologists
355:. 1915. p. 123
176:Silverton, Colorado
104:Kate Bruce Greenway
296:Palmer C. Ricketts
128:economic geologist
656:Ricketts, Louis.
558:Los Angeles Times
264:New Cornelia mine
180:Wyoming Territory
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274:Recognitions
268:Ajo, Arizona
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188:Phelps Dodge
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158:Early career
132:metallurgist
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68:(1940-03-04)
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711:1859 births
695:Categories
478:93, passim
334:References
208:Guggenheim
57:, Maryland
47:1859-12-19
206:from the
172:Leadville
81:Education
359:July 25,
302:See also
283:Personal
328:Caltech
148:Arizona
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204:Sonora
152:Sonora
144:copper
140:banker
99:Spouse
55:Elkton
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110:(
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662:AIME
618:ISBN
537:ISBN
482:ISBN
429:Ibid
361:2020
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37:Born
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