Click to enlarge.
Four years after stating there were substantial copper resources adjacent to the proposed Rosemont Mine on the northeast flank of the Santa Rita Mountains, Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, Inc. is now saying it plans to develop at least three open-pit mines on the ridgeline and down the west side of the range overlooking Sahuarita and Green Valley.
The company has outlined a sprawling mining development that would destroy a section of the Santa Rita’s ridgeline and possibly connect the west side mining operations called Copper World with the proposed Rosemont Mine on the northeast flank of the mountain.
Hudbay’s preliminary plans are outlined in a mine reclamation plan submitted to the state and in a recent press release and investors’ report. Hudbay has not completed a formal economic analysis of the project nor a feasibility study required under Canadian mining laws before mining can begin. Hudbay states it expects to complete the reports next year, followed by two years of permitting, three years of construction with mining starting in 2027.
The Copper World mining project and adjacent exploration, so far, is all on 4,500 acres of private land acquired decades ago through provisions in the General Mining Act of 1872 and recent purchases. Hudbay would only need three state permits for the Copper World project unless it expands mining operations onto adjacent U.S. Bureau of Land Management property, according to an Oct. 3 report in the Arizona Daily Star.
Hudbay told the newspaper it has 101 unpatented mining claims on the BLM land, which would allow the company to explore and develop mine operations while the BLM retains ownership of the land. However, the BLM would have to approve any development on its land. Mining on the BLM line would also require obtaining federal permits that have delayed the development of the Rosemont mine.
On the east side of the mountain range, Rosemont has a mix of primarily private land where the mile-wide, half-mile deep pit is planned and more than 2,000 acres of Coronado National Forest where Hudbay plans to dump waste rock and mine tailings.
Rosemont construction was stopped in July 2019 by a Tucson federal court ruling which Hudbay and the U.S. Forest Service subsequently appealed. A hearing was held last February, and a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected later this year. However, there are additional pending lawsuits against Rosemont that are unresolved.
While Hudbay is telling investors the west side deposits are “new discoveries,” Hudbay and the previous owner, Augusta Resource Corp., have long known about the potential to develop the deposits that are near the surface and extend to a much shallower depth than Rosemont.
In a 2017 Rosemont feasibility report, Hudbay identified “economic” copper deposits of nearly the same size as Rosemont in areas adjacent to the Rosemont pit, including some of the same area where Copper World is now touted as a new discovery.
(Click on graphic to enlarge.) The dotted line encompasses the resource pit shell. The actual Rosemont pit would be constructed within the the resource pit shell.
In February 2014, Augusta Resource Corporation filed documents with Canadian securities regulators providing details of the expansion and exploration potential for areas adjacent to the Rosemont site.
Augusta stated that an additional 3 billion pounds of copper may exist near the Rosemont site and, if developed, “could significantly increase annual production and mine life.”
In 2012, Augusta stated in a technical report that “mineralization” at the Broadtop Butte mining claim located about a mile north of the proposed Rosemont pit along the ridgeline of the Santa Rita Mountains “could potentially be added as a satellite development.” Broadtop Butte is now included in Hudbay’s Copper World plans.
HUDBAY IS PROCEEDING WITH ITS ROSEMONT COPPER PROJECT IN THE WAY THAT IT KNOWS BEST AND THAT IS TO MINE AS MUCH AREA AS PERMITTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THE AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR LETTING THE FOX INTO THE HEN-HOUSE .
HUDBAY IS A VERY WILY MINING COMPANY THAT HAS BEEN THROUGH MANY OPPOSITION ENCOUNTERS OVER THE MANY , MANY YEARS THAT IT HAS BEEN IN SUCCESSFUL OPERATION . IT CARRIED OUT ITS DUE DILIGENCE WHEN NEGOTIATING THE PURCHASE OF ROSEMONT COPPER FROM AUGUSTA RESOURCES . IT KNOWS WHAT IT WANTS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS ON THEIR SIDE .
IT APPEARS THAT HUDBAY MAY MAY PLAN TO OPERATE MORE THAN ONE OPEN PIT AT A TIME . THIS WOULD BE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR THEM AS THEY COULD THEN CONSOLIDATE OPERATIONS INTO A SINGLE PROCESSING COMPLEX . THIS DEVELOPMENT WILL PUT MORE PRESSURE ON THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE , PARTICULARLY THE AMOUNT OF WATER REQUIRED .
ALL-IN-ALL , HUDBAY IS MOVING FORWARD WITH ITS PLANS AND SHOWS NO CONCERN OVER THE ACTIVITIES OF THE OPPOSITION . AS TIME PASSES , THE OPPOSITION’S EFFORTS FADE .
WITHOUT A SERIOUS REVIEW OF THE 1872 MINING ACT , LITTLE , IF ANYTHING , WILL CHANGE . THERE APPEARS TO BE LITTLE , IF ANY , REAL EFFORT TO ” BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS THE PEOPLE “.
If you can suggest ways that private citizens can affect these coming decisions, please let us know. It’s heartbreaking to think of this beautiful land wrecked by Hudbay.
what about cutting off /limiting the vehicle size,weight and cargo the ingress and egress roads are allowed to handle? if taxpayers refuse to allow them to destroy the roads or /and refuse to finance enlarging them to handle the huge vehicles and payloads it will increase their costs significantly if not eliminating their transport ability completely… surely we can exert control over those taxpayer owned assets…. same goes for the enormous electricity usage…how will they get that if we do a ballot measure to prevent either and / or both…this approach is analogous to something like gun control…. if there is some legal right to own guns but not bullets or parts and those are legally eliminated from the equation the end result is functionally the same…. also I seem to recall that the Chinese govt owns at least some of the mining company stock and that will not play well with taxpayers nor will shipping any [if not most or all ] of the copper overseas esp to China I think many or most proponents seem to think it will stay in USA and thus would likely erode support from that perspective… the feds can institute a requirement of posting a secured bond that is enough to actually cover the costs of completely restoring the sites not by their standards but by ours whatever it takes and all of that bs about good paying jobs make them prove that how many doing exactly what and for how much pay and bennies and for how long we hear all of the lame old arguments por mining but none are ever actually porven to be true whatever it takes it must be stopped
what happened to punctuation???
or spelling???
MINING IN ARIZONA IS A NASTY, MESSY BUSINESS . IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE . ANY CHANGES MUST COME FROM THE PEOPLE WHO ADMINISTER THE 1872 MINING ACT AND ALL THAT GOES WITH IT . HUDBAY IS BUT ONE MINING COMPANY WITH INTERESTS IN ARIZONA BUT , TO DATE , HAS NO MINING RECORD IN THE STATE BY WHICH IT CAN BE JUDGED . GOING AFTER INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES STILL LEAVES THE HEN-HOUSE OPEN TO PREDATORS . DECLARE COPPER A STRATEGIC METAL AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL AND INTRODUCE LEGISLATION WHEREBY THE MINING OF COPPER BY FOREIGN ENTITIES IS STRICTLY REGULATED . STOP THE EXPORT OF COPPER CONCENTRATE . ENFORCE THE DOMESTIC PROCESSING OF COPPER CONCENTRATES SUCH THAT THE USA BECOMES TOTALLY SELF SUFFICIENT IN ALL COPPER PRODUCTS . THINK ABOUT ALL OF THE E.V’S THAT WILL BE COMING ON THE MARKET SOON . THEY REPRESENT A COPPER TROVE SECOND TO NONE .
THANK YOU
How can the average citizen help stop this? How can this be allowed knowing the water issues in Arizona and pollution that will be caused by open pit mines? We need to know the names of the politicians allowing this.