The railroad is used to bring chemicals (primarily sulfuric acid) to the mine, as well as ship out copper concentrate.

[2]: 18 In April 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Freeport McMoran agreed to pay $6.8M to settle federal and state charges pertaining to the outflow of acidic metal bearing waters from the Morenci Mine.

The strike ended when a flash flood destroyed many of the miners' homes and caused 40–50 deaths, prior to an anticipated confrontation between strikers and the U.S.

[11] The early days of the strike involved large-scale armed intervention from the Arizona National Guard and Department of Public Safety, including armored vehicles and sharpshooters.

[citation needed] The strike of 1983 completely failed in 1986 after the NLRB rejected appeals by the unions to halt the decertification.