Rosemont Mining Property in Santa Rita Mountains By Dick Kamp Nine years after local residents exerted enormous pressure on ASARCO to withdraw a proposal for a large open-pit copper mine in the northern Santa Ritas, and a year after Pima County chose not to purchase the land when it was offered for sale, a Canadian mining development firm, Augusta Resources (AR), is proposing to develop a similar mine on private land and on Federal land claims. AR paid $20.8 million during 2005 and 2006 for, the Rosemont Ranch, 2960 deeded acres of private property bordered on three sides by Coronado National Forest. Approximately 18,000 acres of Federal grazing leases are also included. The land extends to the Santa Rita crest and lies south of Mount Fagin and north of Box Canyon (see map) The property was owned for many decades by Anaconda who subsequently was bought by AMAX, Anamax, then ASARCO (now a division of Grupo Mexico). In 1995, after 25 years of discussion, ASARCO proposed an exchange of property they owned north in the state for access to over 13,000 additional acres of Federal land surrounding the Rosemont property to provide the company with a large enough piece of land for mining facilities. In 1998 after widespread public and Pima and Santa Cruz County supervisor opposition, and accompanying low copper prices, the land exchange and the mining proposal were both dropped. Water for the Rosemont project would have been piped from ASARCO’s Mission Mine after that mine’s copper concentrates were mined out and the Rosemont mine, like the Mission mine, would have shipped concentrates to ASARCO’s Hayden smelter. The Rosemont Ranch was sold by ASARCO in 2004 to local investor Yoram Levy for $4.5 million and he, in turn, offered to sell it to Pima County that same year for a reported $11.5 million to create a conservation area. Pima County lacked bond authority to buy the ranch and public opinion differed on whether it was an appropriate purchase. The county did get voter approval to potentially purchase the Helvetia mining site portion of the property, however Helvetia is now a part of the entire piece that Levy and partners ultimately sold to AR. Many questions concerning a proposed mine await answers: Who would develop it and finance it with what money? Where would water come from and how much would be utilized? Is there room enough for an open pit mine and where would tailings go—on private or Forest Service land? How, in an island mountain range considered environmentally and emotionally important to many southeast Arizona residents, could a company come up with a permit that would guarantee reclamation, closure and groundwater and surface protection on private land, as well as meet the standards for an environmental impact statement for Federal lands? What are local reactions surrounding this latest development? Many of the answers to these questions will have to surface in the coming months, according to AR and to concerned Pima and Santa Cruz county residents. AR had suggested certain timelines for mining development to the Forest Service and to Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, an organization that battled ASARCO from 1995-97. A number of permits would be required on private land by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality that differ from Federal land that is regulated under the antiquated 1872 Mining Act that environmentalists have been trying to change for decades. “ Augusta talked about submitting an exploration plan by July and a mining plan of operations by winter 2006-7 for the 12,000 acres of Federal mining claims they have” said Coronado National Forest geologist Bev Everson., “however I haven’t heard anything recently.” “The Forest Service cannot deny a permit under the 1872 Mining Law”, said Everson—a common interpretation that is not universally accepted. “We can, however, ask for mitigation of environmental impacts” Arizona would require an Aquifer Protection Permit application to protect water, bonds for reclamation and closure, as well as air quality permits and permits for any waste that could contaminate. Any potential impacts on surface waters would require further permitting and a Federal review by the Forest Service of mining under the National Environmental Policy Act would probably include a requirement for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) presuming that the mining could impact the land. “We want all parties to have the same information at the same time,” said AR vice president Jamie Sturgess. Information on how the Rosemont mine would be designed and how environmental protection would be implemented will be available in studies to be released in the next few weeks, promised Sturgess. In the meantime, he urged studying the AR website for existing information (www.augustaresources.com). The studies Sturgess referred to would be written for “ Canada’s equivalent to the Securities Exchange Commission, SEDAR, and would address the costs of mining, reclamation and closure as well as environmental studies.” The mine would initially be producing copper and molybdenum concentrate at around 2/3 the production level of the Phelps Dodge Sierrita Mine near Green Valley, confirmed Sturgess. The company anticipates also producing acid-leached electrolytically produced cathode copper, a process known as SX-EW. According to a May 1 bulletin, AR, “is studying the feasibility of an open pit mine, concentrator and leaching facility with a concentrator production capacity of approximately 68,000 tonnes per day in order to produce estimated annual sales of 225 to 230 million pounds of recovered copper and over 5 million pounds of molybdenum over a 17-22 year period.” Sturgess said that the process of getting financial approval for the mine involves several steps and could take some time. He declined to say whether AR would operate a mine itself, enter into a joint venture with a larger mining company, or would try to sell the mine to an interested buyer. The company has never operated a mine, rather it has purchased land or mining leases and conducted exploration and feasibility studies on mining properties. Sonoita resident and Save the Scenic Santa Ritas coalition member Annie McGreevy said, “Where can they get the water for this mine?” Water usage of some mines, such as Sierrita, can be in the tens of thousands of acre feet, particularly if they have to continuously pump to stop the movement of groundwater pollution but also to dewater the mine, itself, in many cases. “We are also concerned about their long-range plans to prevent pollution and how they can demonstrate their capacity to do so.” The group’s president, Lanie Levick said, “ It would be a tragedy if these beautiful oak dotted grasslands at Rosemont Valley were buried forever under an open pit mine. The area is extremely valuable for open space, recreation land, watershed and wildlife habitat.” (their website is www.scenicsantaritas.org)
Robinson added, “There may be good copper in the ground at Rosemont, but when you add up the obstacles, this is not really low-hanging fruit from the perspective of developing a mine. They can write up a great prospectus for this property and you can dress up a pig and put lipstick on it, but it will still be a pig whether in a poke or not: this will not be easy property to mine.” Roger Featherstone, Arizona representative of the national environmental group, Earthworks, said, “They will have to do a very good sales job to convince us not to oppose this mine. I don’t know how they can develop it without more land and water.” Sturgess said that, he was not in a position to say where the water would come from yet, but, “I can tell you one thing, I’m not going to take down the water required to keep the Gila Basin Chub alive in Cienega Creek”. He would not comment on whether that meant AR would not pump in the Cienega Creek basin. He added that, “ASARCO is not exactly my model for mining environmental protection. We’ll be working to mitigate and prevent pollution and even enhance the environment. For one thing, our mining plan would anticipate the use of dry tailings to conserve water and prevent acid leaching and we will minimize the visual impact of the mine.” The old Helvetia minesite on the Augusta Resource Rosemont mine property
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