Show me an example! By Nancy Freeman Augusta Resource Company of Canada has turned in a proposal to operate a pit and tailings operation to extract copper in the nearby Santa Ritas. To hear them tell the story, we are soon to have a glorified park in the region. Frankly, I’ll like to see such a mine. We who live by the Sierrita mine know better—even though Phelps Dodge keeps their operations well hidden behind tailing dams. On last Tuesday, in a heroic and insightful act, Ray Carroll, the Pima County Supervisor from Green Valley district, proposed that the Board of Supervisors adopt an official resolution in opposition to mining in Rosemont Valley of the Santa Rita Mountains. The resolution was right in line with the resolutions the Board has already passed. They adopted the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, which received the American Planning Association's 2002 Outstanding Planning Award. Last year, i n a 5-0 vote, the Supervisors passed a resolution in favor of a strong Endangered Species Act. The fact is that the decision is not a County decision. The property in question is on private and Federal Forest Service Land. Therefore, the Supervisors missed an opportunity to step forward and declare that they were going to stand behind their previous decisions of protecting the Sonoran Desert in Pima County. Water is a critical issue Augusta Resource Corporation, from Vancouver, Canada, had a host of employees present at the meeting: engineers, geologist, mineralolgist, all excited about the possibility of another mine in Pima County—of course, only two of them mentioned that they actually lived here. Then there was the environmental expert. I remember when I first started researching the situation at the Sierrita mine, I googled “environmental attorney,” for it seemed like something we find a use for some time in the future. Sure enough there was a host of them—all of them touting their successes against the public and environment in favor of corporations. Thereby, I became forewarned about mining environmental experts. Of course, the “jobs” banner was pulled out and waved several times. I cannot understand people who are so self-centered that they think a protected area should be torn asunder and pocked with pits and waste piles so they can have a job. All the miners in our region have jobs—Phelps Dodge and Asarco both are operating at capacity. Do we need more jobs/people in Pima County? Build the jobs and the people will come! And then you have to build roads, and for telephone, and electrical, etc. And who will pay for that infrastructure? Our capitalistic society is based on the idea that more people is a good thing because they pay more taxes. There must be a breaking-point of that theory. I think it’s time to give that slogan a second look. Two people from Green Valley spoke up in favor of Supervisor Carroll’s resolution. Richard Calabro protested the mine on the grounds of the recent blowing of dust, and as a hiker he did not want to lose the scenic area. I gave a short presentation of the problems with mining: devastation of landscape, and depletion of water table, accompanied with a few photos from our local photo opportunity—the Sierrita mine. As executive director of the Groundwater Awareness League, I criticized the 5,000 -8,000 acre feet of CAP water credits that Augusta plans to use—the same old pump here, recharge scam that we are caught in here in Green Valley. However, County Manager, Chuck Huckleberry, asserted that they would have to bring water from another region. He stated that there would be no pumping of groundwater in the area, and no use of paper water. However, the Augusta Work Plan (p. vi) does state clearly that they intend to use CAP credits to recharge at Pima Mine Road to offset their groundwater pumping. Further, it is impossible for them to avoid pumping of groundwater in the region because the pits have to be dewatered as soon as they reach groundwater level. So there will have to be pumping of groundwater on the site. Not only does dewatering deplete the water in the immediate area, but the continuous pumping creates a sump, known as a cone of depression that starts pulling water from surrounding areas. Who is going to stand up for the animals and plants of the region who will surely suffer? Shouldn’t they have a stake in this process? In 1997, the National Park Service did an expensive report on the problems of draining of the groundwater in the two Saguaro National Parks in the Tucson region. The desert will not be able to sustain itself when the ego-systems that have developed over hundreds of years, with seeming intelligence and foresight, for survival by the desert animals and plants are disturbed. Not another pit! Chuck Huckleberry reasoned that the old mines used old technology and the new mines have better technology. In my presentation, I provided a photo of the dry tailings method that Augusta plans to use. I could not ascertain much difference in the devastation. The dry tailings will be lined, so when it rains, they won’t seep into the groundwater. The advantage of using dry tailings is that they use less water—meaning that more water is sucked out of the slurry before being put in an impoundment. However, the use of dry tailings is new, and it does concern me for two reasons. First, the paste will dry faster, so that means more dust. Second, heavy metals will be in the dust due to the processing. Cadmium, selenium and uranium and its isotopes are commonly found with copper in this region. Settled into the ground in conglomerates they are rather inert, but when ground to a powder and mixed with chemicals, they become another creature, as pointed out in the EPA report on technologically enhanced uranium in the Arizona copper mines. Even if they try to cultivate plants to remediate the dumps, it may be difficult on such sludge. We are dealing with a copper content of 1% at best. That means that there is a lot of waste. They intend put up walls of waste rock around the impoundments to hold the paste in place. The waste rock would exceed the amount of walls needed right away because of the need to remove the “overburden” to get down to the core of rock. That can be 100% waste rock, whereas when they get to the pay dirt, the waste rock may only be around 80%. Even waste rock has its pitfalls! Heavy rains can start leaching out heavy minerals to create acid drainage in the region. Then what about the pit? If all the tailings are put in impoundments and hopefully reclaimed to some degree, when the whole project is over—the forest is stuck with the pit. There is no plan to backfill it—but guess what happens when the dewatering stops. The pit fills up. The water dissolves all the exposed minerals and eventually becomes a toxic lake. Only 15 to 20% of the proposed pit is on Forest Service Land, the majority of it is on the privately owned Rosemont ranch. Referring to the “reclamation” plan of Sierrita and Twin Buttes, a fence and warning signs are the state of the art. By the way, there was a move to acquire the Rosemont Ranch for the Sonoran Conservation area. However, the County could not quite stretch its pocketbook to pay for it, but of course a mining company could. Some 10 years ago, Asarco acquired 2,200 of the 2,700 acres in the Rosemont parcel for $5 an acre at the expense of the U. S. taxpayers—but I suppose the County does not get such good rates under the Mining Act of 1872. Public Input The Forest Service officials are now reviewing the Plan of Operations submitted by Augusta Resource Corporation “a mineral exploration and development company responsibly advancing copper and other base metal assets in the U.S. southwest.” They then respond to company with a request for additional information. When they receive that plan they will prepare an environmental impact analysis, which will involve the public. So we will be able to make statements and suggestions on how to preclude the environmental impact. An official at the Forest Service tells me they cannot deny a mining operation, they can only insist on mitigations and processes that will minimize the impacts of the mine. Forest Lands are meant for multiple uses including mining. Through the efforts of group calling themselves, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, this area was saved from mining by Asarco some five years ago. Those people are still around, headed by Lanie Levick and Roger Featherstone, and ready to go for saving the mountains again. This Augusta Plan is not that different—except for the dry tailings idea. However, I think we can work smarter. I propose that one tact that we can take is to acknowledge that public lands are for many uses, certainly including extracting metals for the public’s use. However, these deposits are not rich ore; therefore, the need for the milling and concentrating and a tailings impoundments. Therefore, I recommend that we save this type of low-grade ore deposits that require waste rock dumps and tailings impoundments for the future—a future that will surely bring new methods of extracting ore in more environmentally-friendly methods. And you know what—the sooner we insist, the sooner they will happen!
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