Tucson—Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher today sent a letter to Governor Katie Hobbs requesting she postpone the April 29 auction of 160 acres of State Trust Land requested by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals for the proposed Copper World mine.
“It remains Pima County’s position that proceeding with this land auction could facilitate a foreign mining company impacting our community by destroying irreplaceable natural and cultural areas, draining an aquifer that is already experiencing declining water levels and subsidence, and degrading the quality of our and water,” Lesher’s letter states.
Lesher referred to a statement by the governor’s spokeswoman in the Feb. 23 Arizona Daily Star that the mine will not be stopped or deferred and that allowing the auction to proceed will result in buffering homes and schools from mine tailings.
“Pima County does not share this position,” Lesher states in her letter citing two reasons.
First, Lesher states Copper World has not been approved by Hudbay’s board of directors and cannot do so until it completes a Canadian regulatory-required Final Feasibility Study.
Second, the auction of the 160-acre parcel “is key to the feasibility of this mine” because it provides Hudbay direct access to an additional 480 acres it owns to the north it intends to use for mine tailings.
“If they successfully access those 480 acres, the schools and homes (in Corona de Tucson) would be closer to the tailings than any small buffer that Hudbay is saying that 160-acre parcel would provide without any assurances,” Lesher states.
Without acquiring the 160 acres, Hudbay would need to obtain a right-of-way to install tailings pipelines and other infrastructure across the 160 acres of State Trust Land or a portion of the Santa Rita Experimental Range to access the 480 acres.
Pima County’s letter comes after SSSR on Friday filed a formal protest with the Arizona State Land Department requesting the state to withdraw the April 29 auction. Land Commissioner Robyn Sahid has until April 22 to accept SSSR’s protest.
“SSSR thanks Pima County for continuing to advocate for protection of the Santa Rita Mountains,” SSSR Executive Director John Dougherty says. “SSSR will continue to oppose Hudbay at every opportunity to stop the company’s ill-conceived assault on the Santa Rita Mountains that nurture a critical Sonoran Desert watershed, provide irreplicable biodiversity and hold sacred indigenous cultural sites.”
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