The smelter was started in January 1912 and the first copper was poured on October 8, 1913 by the Arizona Copper Company. It replaced a still older smelter whose ruins can be seen behind the Circle K in Clifton. By 1929 the Clifton Smelter was producing nearly 55 million pounds of copper per year. When underground mining ended in Morenci in 1932, the Clifton smelter was shut down. It was reopened in 1937 and 1938 to smelt concentrates shipped in from Bisbee, but was soon shut down and dismantled never to be opened again.