One of the central pillars of Augusta Resource Corporation’s public relations campaign for its Rosemont Copper Company subsidiary is the proposed Rosemont mine will reduce America’s reliance of imported copper.
Augusta claims the proposed Rosemont mine on the Coronado National Forest in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson “will reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign sources of copper.”
About 35 percent of the copper consumed in the U.S. last year was imported, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
This assertion is having an impact on the perceptions political leaders have about the proposed mine.
“I support the Rosemont Mine,” U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., is quoted as saying in the Sierra Vista Herald.
The paper reported that McCain said it makes no sense for America to import copper from New Guinea, Chile or Mexico.
Contrary to its public statements meant to shore up support for the mile-wide, half-mile deep open pit mine that will dump waste rock on more than 3,000 acres of national forest, Rosemont has no contracts with U.S. buyers to purchase as much as one ounce of its copper. Continue reading
