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Copper mine plan aims at santa ritas

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More than a hundred people called on the Pima County Board of Supervisors Tuesday to oppose mining in the Santa Rita Mountains.

The National Forest Service will have the final say over whether Canadian-based Augusta Resource Corp. can mine copper at the Rosemont Ranch in the Santa Rita Mountains. The company owns some of the 4,000-acre site outright, and the Forest Service owns the rest.

The company has promised an environmentally friendly mine with ongoing reclamation and imported water, but the opponents — as many as half of them from Green Valley and some from as far away as Sonoita — said the company should not be trusted.

"The last time I saw a mining company exhibit any environmental responsibility was inside a courtroom," said Randy Serraglio, who worked against an Asarco plan on the same site in the 1990s. "There's no technical issues to understand, other than that it's fine the way it is right now."

Helen Price said her father was a mining engineer, and she grew up in a series of towns now virtually abandoned or even buried under mine tailings.

"Mines close," she said. "Even if this Rosemont mine lives up to all its promises, which I don't believe, they have no control over the geology or over the price of copper. If the price of copper falls, then they walk away. And what happens to all their promises of reclamation then?"

The company has submitted a plan of operation for review but has not completed an environmental impact study or an in-depth feasibility study. That process could take several years.

Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll asked the board last month to go on the record opposing the proposal, but the other supervisors said they wanted more information about the company's mitigation efforts, including possibly putting millions into an environmental trust.

The county's review of the company's proposal won't be ready until later this week, but opponents packed the meeting room to tell the supervisors they shouldn't trust the company's promises.

The meeting mirrored one that occurred last month, when several dozen mining company employees told the board the mine would bring well-paying jobs to the region. At that meeting, only one Green Valley resident spoke against the mine.

This time the lone voice in support of the mine was Tom Kay, an Arivaca rancher hired by Augusta to be a ranch manager at the site.

Kay said he uses solar and wind power on his ranch and practices range management to protect wildlife, and he likes what he sees from Augusta.

"I suspect I'm the only true environmentalist in the room who actually lives on the land," he said.

The reclamation will be an ongoing process so that even if the company leaves, it won't be leaving a mess, he said. And the company has offered conservation easements to ensure the land won't be developed for other purposes.

"It's just a really neat plan," he said.

The discussion was continued to Nov. 14.