April 21, 2026
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: John Dougherty, Executive Director
jdougherty@scenicsantaritas.org
Tucson—The Arizona State Land Department today rejected Save the Scenic Santa Rita’s formal protest seeking to block the April 29 auction of 160 acres of State Trust Land requested by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals for its Copper World mine.
SSSR has 20 days to file an appeal of the department’s order before the state Court of Appeals or the state Supreme Court.
“Once again, Governor Katie Hobbs is placing the interests of Hudbay and its joint venture partner Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi ahead of her constituents in southern Arizona,” SSSR Executive Director John Dougherty said. “There is no need to auction this land now when Hudbay states it won’t be needed for at least 15 years.”
The ASLD’s newspaper and online public notices for the auction were riddled with errors including a map showing the property to be sold as being in Maricopa County rather than Pima County, conflicting times and locations for the auction and incorrect identification numbers for the parcel to be sold.
Hudbay intends to use the land located south of Corona de Tucson for a toxic mine tailings waste dump. The state land would allow Hudbay to access another planned waste dump that abuts Corona de Tucson.
The state-approved appraisal values the land at $993,000. The appraisal was based on rural residential land values, rather than industrial. Hudbay’s acquisition of the property would allow it to process an additional 41 million tons of copper ore worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“State Trust Land should be sold to maximize revenue for the state’s public schools, not foreign mining companies,” Dougherty said. “Governor Hobbs is doing the opposite. We will continue to fight in the public interest to have this misguided auction canceled.”
A demonstration opposing the auction will begin at 10 a.m., April 29, at the State Department of Transportation office, 1221 S. Second Ave., Tucson. The auction is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
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Photo Credit: EcoFlight
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