Continued low worldwide copper prices and a pro-longed economic slowdown in the United States resulted in Arizona's copper industry contribution to the state's economy falling by about 21 percent to about 3.1 billion dollars in 2002, according to the Arizona Mining Association. That amount includes personal income, business sales and government revenues. The decrease was due to curtailments of copper production at Arizona's major copper mining operations. Those cutbacks were due to diminished demand caused by difficult economic conditions worldwide. The state's mining industry produced about 776 kt (855,000 st) of copper during 2002 and employed 6,200 people. Both of those figures were about 10 percent below the 2001 levels.
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