Arizona- Protect Endangered Ocelot from Mining

30 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, Augusta Resource, (a Canadian mining company, also known as Rosemont Copper), plans to excavate 550 million tons of ore annually of copper, molybdenum and silver.

This area is home to the endangered ocelot, and jaguar- as well as 4 other species listed as candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act, as well as 9 which are threatened. Over half of all North American bird species use the area, as do 104 mammal species and 3,000 plant species.

In the middle of the Santa Rita Mountains portion of the Sky Islands is where the company would like to blast a 6,000 to 6,500-foot-wide and 1,800 to 2,900-foot-deep hole in the ground and unearth 1,228 million tons of waste rock per year, over its estimated 20-year life span.

Rosemont Copper owns 995 acres that would be used for the mine and processing facility but is seeking 3,670 acres of the Coronado National Forest, 15 acres from the Bureau of Land Management and 75 acres from the state of Arizona, mostly to be used for the dumping of waste rock and the often-toxic crud that's left behind after the ore has been recovered.

The Environmental Protection Acency opposes it; as does the community, the mayor, the Tuscon City Council and the board of supervisors in two counties.

We ask the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to deny the permit application, and protect the endangered ocelot and jaguar with The Endangered Species Act.
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Director Henry Darwin
1110 West Washington Street
Phoenix
Arizona 85007
Phone: (602) 771-2204
Fax: (602) 771-2218
EMail: http://www.azdeq.gov/function/about/contact.html