Mining giant Asarco earlier backed off plans to mine the Rosemont site, but now Augusta Resource is pursuing plans to extract copper there.

a.E. Araiza / Arizona Daily Star 2005

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A Canadian company promoting a new copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains has clearance to buy thousands of acre-feet of Central Arizona Project water for the venture.

An attorney working for Augusta Resource Corp. said the CAP governing board this week approved the company's request to buy 10,000 acre-feet of water each year for five years.

Augusta plans to store the water underground through the existing recharge station near Interstate 19 and Pima Mine Road and draw water from the area aquifer in the future if the Rosemont mine project, about 30 miles southeast of Tucson, goes forward.

The CAP action does not guarantee water for the project, but the company is confident that water will be available in future years — a critical step in the development of the project.

The company's goal is to buy and store between 50,000 and 70,000 acre-feet of "excess" CAP water for possible use at the Rosemont project if it is permitted, funded and developed, said Michael Pearce, an attorney with the Fennemore Craig law firm in Phoenix.

An acre-foot of water, about 326,000 gallons, would serve three average-sized Tucson families for a year, according to Tucson Water.

Bob Barrett, spokesman for the CAP in Phoenix, said the project board of directors approved Augusta's application to buy the water and recharge it at the Pima Mine Road site.

CAP officials project that the system will have "excess" water — water that is under contract to users but isn't taken each year — available for the next 15 to 20 years. Most Arizona cities have allocations larger than they can use each year, Barrett said.

Arizona now draws 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water annually for the 336-mile CAP aqueduct that starts at Lake Havasu and terminates at the Pima Mine Road recharge site south of Tucson.

Augusta Resource plans to start buying and storing CAP water in January, said Jamie Sturgess, company vice president for projects and environment, speaking by phone from Denver.

The company's preliminary plan for Rosemont calls for use of about 5,000 acre-feet of water annually in an open-pit mining operation that would produce an estimated 225 million pounds of copper per year, plus byproducts molybdenum and silver, for an estimated life of 16 to 19 years.

The mine would employ an estimated 350 people, Sturgess said.

Augusta paid more than $20 million for 2,960 deeded acres that border the Coronado National Forest. The company also has a grazing lease on 18,000 additional acres, of which 12,000 acres are under mineral claims on national forest land. Augusta is continuing an $8 million drilling campaign to further define the Rosemont property's mineral profile. Development of the mine would cost $500 million or more, Sturgess added.

The area is a historic mining area with evidence of activity dating back more than 100 years, including two abandoned smelter sites, Sturgess said. Augusta's plan calls for transporting copper concentrates to smelters in Arizona or Mexico for processing, he added.

Asarco Inc., which acquired the Rosemont property in 1989, proposed a land swap a decade ago to assemble additional acreage for a mining operation in the area. The company shelved the plan when copper prices slumped in 1998. Asarco later sold the property to Tucson investor Yoram Levy, who offered the land to Pima County. He later sold it to Augusta Resource.

Augusta, based in Vancouver, B.C., plans to submit a plan of operation to the U.S. Forest Service next month, Sturgess said. Augusta Resource (Arizona) Corp. holds title to the property.

The company develops and promotes mining properties in the southwestern United States but has never operated a mine.

Renewed talk of a mine on the Rosemont property is rekindling opposition that surfaced against the Asarco proposal.

"The public spoke pretty strongly in opposition to the Asarco plan, and unless Augusta has come up with something clearly different, that opposition hasn't gone away," said Roger Featherstone, based in Tucson as the "Southwest circuit rider" for Earthworks, a nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based environmental advocacy group.

"It's important to know that the big mining companies never get this stuff right," Featherstone said. "Every mine that goes into operation promises they will never pollute, but none has ever kept that commitment."

Augusta Resource bought the property from Triangle Ventures LLC, which paid Asarco $4.8 million. Triangle, which included Levy, offered the land to Pima County for preservation for $11.5 million, but a citizens advisory committee considered the price too high.