Pima County has sent letters to Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc., and its joint venture partner, Mitsubishi, as well as a third major investor and two Canadian regulators concerning “unresolved risks” posed by the proposed Copper World mine that would destroy the northern half of the Santa Rita Mountains.
The letters also included recently passed resolutions by Pima County and the city of Tucson opposing Copper World.
In a May 15 letter to Katsuya Nakanishi, Mitsubishi’s president and chief executive officer, Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher, writing on behalf of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, stated:
“Based on our review of Hudbay’s 2023 pre-feasibility study, state permit applications, and related public disclosures, Pima County has identified unresolved risks that we believe warrant careful consideration from an investor disclosure perspective:
• Water supply uncertainty and impacts: The project relies on groundwater from a declining basin that is already causing subsidence and impacting well owners, and the proposed recharge is dependent on Colorado River allocations that are highly uncertain and are not occurring in the watershed of impact
•Other hydrologic impacts: The planned Rosemont pit is expected to alter groundwater flow, reducing flows to protected riparian systems, plants and wildlife.
•Tailings risk: The proposed tailings storage is upstream of residential areas and a school along a canyon that experiences significant flows during storm events.
• Permitting and oversight limitations: The project’s location on private land reduces federal review, increasing reliance on accurate and complete corporate disclosures.
• Lack of meaningful mitigation: The Preliminary Feasibility Study stated that Hudbay intended to engage key stakeholders to solicit input to develop an effective mitigation plan, but we question the extent to which this has occurred considering the continued community opposition.
• Ongoing litigation and community opposition: The sustained legal and political challenges from community groups, elected officials and local governments, continue to cause uncertainty for project timing, cost, and corporate reputation.
• Tribal communities and intergenerational cultural loss: Tribal opposition centers on intergenerational cultural loss and anticipated irreversible impacts to sacred places and traditional practices, resulting in creating sustained social and reputational risk to the project.
• Cumulative operational risk: Hudbay’s announced intent to acquire the Cactus Mine,a separate mine in Pinal County to the north, raises the potential for linked operations and expanded environmental exposure.
Given Mitsubishi’s stated commitments to sustainability, responsible resource development and stakeholder engagement, we respectfully encourage you to evaluate whether these risks have been fully mitigated and transparently disclosed, engage with Hudbay regarding outstanding environmental and social concerns, and consider the implications of sustained local opposition for project viability and long-term value.”
The letters were sent just days before Hudbay’s annual meeting scheduled for 11 a.m., Tuesday May 19. The event is a virtual meeting. (Password: Hudbay2026).
Pima County sent similar letters to:
Takehiko Kakiuchi, Chairman of the Board Mitsubishi Corporation;
Mr. David Smith, Chair, Board of Directors, Hudbay Minerals Inc.;
Randy Smallwood, Chair of the Board of Directors, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.;
Haytham Hodaly, President and CEO, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.;
Ms. Laura Belloni, Secretary General, Canadian Securities Administrators;
Mr. Grant Vingoe, Chair and CEO, Ontario Securities Commission;
Pima County also copied Hudbay’s CEO Peter Kukielski and Hudbay’s Senior Vice President of its US Business Unit, Javier Del Rio.
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Thank you Pima County and City of Tucson for putting people and community over corporate profits.
This is fantastic!! Great news! Hopefully all the folks copied will ask the right questions of Hudbay and it gets stopped in its tracks! Sent a letter to the editor-GVN reflecting total rejection of Murphy’s ads/interviews and Hudbay’s poor performance at QC. Will share comments on this at call to public on May 26. Thanks for all you do!
Please continue the fight. Hudbay Mining expansion will cause a future dramatic ecological and economic disaster to residents of Green Valley, Sahuarita and all of Pima county. Water is a crucial commonalty that cannot by squandered by Hudbay. Thank you.
We don’t want you here. These mountains aren’t yours to destroy as well as the wildlife and surrounding area’s. Your greed and lack of humanity is disgusting. There’s a special place in hell reserved for all of you bastards.
Copper mining today is very different from the sort of mining practiced decades ago, and you won’t find better stewards of the land. Water use priorities should take value generated into the equation, and copper production will demonstrate significantly higher returns than agriculture- besides generating significant tax revenue for the region.
The none of the world’s citizens, industries, or governments will be injured if Hudbay Copper World mine does not open. The citizens of this dry desert valley could find themselves out of affordable water. If Hudbay can’t get their water piped in from a non-binding promise of a future allocation of water from the Colorado River our beautiful valley will find the owner’s of the Copper World Mine just close it and walk away. Leaving the investors with a big loss.