Photo Credit: EcoFlight
April 17, 2026
Tucson—The online and newspaper notices published by the state for the April 29 auction of 160 acres sought by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals for its Copper World mine have a half dozen factual errors that require the department to cancel the auction, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas Executive Director John Dougherty said Friday.
“The Arizona State Land Department has failed to provide legal notice of the pending auction,” Dougherty said. “The state must cancel the auction.”
The errors include an incorrect “Land Sale” identification number, incorrect “ASLD File” number, conflicting times of when the auction will take place, and a map showing the land to be sold as located in Maricopa County rather than in Pima County.
The State Constitution requires the department to publish a notice of a land sale that contains the “full description” of the property to be sold and the “nature, time and place of the transaction.”
The federal Enabling Act that granted statehood also requires the “full description” of the property. The Constitution, the Enabling Act and a state statute all require the notices to be published for 10 weeks in the newspaper closest to the pending land sale and in a Phoenix newspaper.
The Green Valley News in Sahuarita published the department’s formal Auction Notice for 10 weeks ending with the April 5 edition. SSSR reviewed ASLD files Friday morning and found no record confirming the Auction Notice was published in the Green Valley News and no record of where it was published in Phoenix.
The Green Valley News Auction Notice includes two factual errors. The first error occurs in paragraph A of the “PROPERTY INFORMATION” section near the beginning of the notice. The state provided an invalid “Sale Parcel” when it published the wrong “Land Sale” number in the notice, which stated: “The complete legal description of Land Sale No. 53-124457 (the “Sale Parcel”) is available in its respective file.”
ASLD records reviewed Friday state there are no records related to Land Sale No. 53-124457. The correct Land Sale number for the Copper World 160-acre parcel is 53-122457.
The state repeated the error under the “BIDDING INFORMATION” section which tells a prospective bidder to research “all ASLD files pertinent to the auction and the Sale Parcel, including, without limitation, ASLD File No. 53-124457.” Once again, the state published an invalid ASLD File number. The correct number is 53-122457.
“The land department failed to meet the legal requirement to provide “full information” on the land to be sold by providing an invalid number that provides the public with no information about the property,” Dougherty said.
The department compounds the mistakes on its website at https://land.az.gov/reports-notices. The link goes to a list of “Upcoming Auctions” where the April 29 auction is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. This conflicts with the 11 a.m. start time in the Green Valley News Auction Notice.
The Upcoming Auctions list also provides three links for the April 29 auction including an Auction Notice and Flyer. The Auction Notice link goes to an updated version of the notice that appeared in the Green Valley News. The online version is identified as the Revised Auction Notice and provides a new location for the auction to be held at the Arizona Department of Transportation 1221 S. 2nd Ave., Tucson.
The Revised Auction Notice also includes the invalid Land Sale number under PROPERTY INFORMATION and the invalid ASLD File number under BIDDING INFORMATION that appeared in the Green Valley News Auction Notice.
The Revised Auction Notice includes a map that is significantly different than the map that appeared in the Green Valley News. The Revised Auction Notice shows the land to be sold is located at the intersection of I-17 and Carefree Highway in Maricopa County rather than near Helvetia Road in Pima County.
Rounding out the department’s notification mistakes is the online one-page Flyer that was updated on April 15. The Flyer adds more confusion on when the auction begins by stating it starts at 9:30 a.m. rather than 11 a.m. that appears in the Green Valley News notice and the Revised Auction Notice online.
“The land department provides conflicting times of when the auction will be held, failed to provide ‘complete information’ on the land to be sold and published different maps on where the land is located,” Dougherty said.
“The key errors in notification shows the ASLD is rushing to auction this land,” Dougherty added. “Without legal and proper noticing, the public is not able to engage with a state land sale that would allow Hudbay to reap a windfall while shortchanging Arizona’s public schools. It’s time to cancel the auction.”
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