Rosemont Mine Water Concerns

Water resources

Rosemont is only one of several proposed mines in this region.  What are the cumulative effects of all of these mines using our groundwater, and their tailings polluting it?  The Canadian newspapers and our own EPA are worried about the Water Wars in our near future? 

Augusta states in their Master Plan of Operation section 2.8 that they will use approximately 5000 acre feet of water per year.  In GALLONS that is 1,629,105,000.  ONE BILLION, SIX HUNDRED TWENTY NINE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED FIVE THOUSAND GALLONS OF WATER PER YEAR.  Fifty one gallons per second.  Of course other estimates put it up to 6,000 acre feet, and the dry tailing and water recovery technology they propose are not proven.  Who really knows how much water they will use?

They signed an agreement with CAP to store 50,000 to 70,000 acre feet of excess CAP water at the Pima Mine Road Recharge Project ("PMRRP") over the next 5 to 7 years, commencing in 2007.  Augusta realizes the UNCERTAINTIES OF AVAILABLE EXCESS WATER AND STORAGE CAPACITY AT THE PMRRP.  Augusta desires to begin building up an account of long-term storage credits that could be used to replace or offset any groundwater pumped by the mine from the Tucson AMA.  Click here to read the full document .  

In other words it sounds like they want to store CAP water in a different location then they will pump the groundwater from, and there is no guarantee of any CAP water at all. Click to read about excess CAP water.

What happens if there is no excess water and storage capacity?   Is there a plan B?

Pima County is very concerned about the water table east of the Santa Ritas.  In a letter dated 9/7/2007 to the forestry service they outline their concerns and questions.  Read this report titled "Groundwater model of the Santa Rita Rosemont Site" prepared for Pima County by Dr. Tom Myers

If you live in this area and have a well find out your well # and send a question in to the forest service requesting information on the proposed mines affect on your well.  See the sample question

The forestry service then sent a letter to Augusta on 10/19/2007 stating that they did not have sufficient information from Augusta on the effect on the groundwater on the east side of the Santa Ritas.  If Augusta is so sure that the mine will not impact the Las Cienega national preserve and will not effect the Cienega creek then why didn't they have this information available to the forest service?

Water usage comparison:  All figures in gallons, data from 2007

In Arizona, housing developers are required to prove an ample supply of water for 100 years before getting permits to develop.  This is to protect the public.  Mines however are allowed to use as much water as they want.  How can water be guaranteed by the developer when they cannot foresee a mines arrival and additional use of water resources? 

The mines have a poor track record of polluting our groundwater.  I have compiled several articles to give you an idea of the extent of the damage to groundwater and surface water by the mines.  Since Augusta Resources (or whomever they may sell the mine too) has no track record I cannot use them as an example.  So instead I decided to look at several  owned by Phelps Dodge and a few other companies. 

I'll start with this article from March 22, 1993. It gives Phelps Dodge a "D" in mining.  They contaminated the water supply for Bisbee from the copper queen mine tailings http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=2136 .

Phelps Dodge Sierrita Mine is contaminating Green Valleys water supply and they promised to fix it in this June 2006 article  http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcquality/6pheldodg6.html . 

According to an article in the Mining News dated 12/11/06, scientists have now discovered that there is widespread failure to keep mines from polluting our groundwater  http://www.theminingnews.org/news.cfm?newsID=2378 . 

More on Phelps Dodge, According to the Groundwater Awareness League Complaint issued 2/7/2007, now that the environment is trashed Phelps Dodge Corporation is planning to sell to Freeport MacMoran http://www.g-a-l.info/ComplaintOne.htm .

Now Green Valley has higher Uranium, Cadmium, and Thallium levels in their water supply, and the culprit is Phelps Dodge's Sierrita and Twin Buttes mines. As reported by the Arizona Daily Star on 2/20/2007 http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/170040 .

On June 29, 2007 an article from the Arizona Department of Environmental quality informs us that they are making it more difficult for Phelps Dodge to get a water permit http://lists.azdeq.gov/pipermail/media/2007-June/000056.html .

Looks like it took the Courts to make Kennecott do anything!  In an article dated July 9, 2007 the US Department of Justice issued this release about the second largest mining company in the US., the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation (Kennecott), and its groundwater pollution from past mining operations.   The Bingham Canyon Mine is located 30 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.  The proposed consent decree requires Kennecott to meet three major objectives for the cleanup of the OU 2 Zone, a groundwater plume. The Zone A plume is the portion of the groundwater aquifer contaminated by acidic waste water that has leached from waste rock dumps and that has been contaminated by other wastewaters generated from operations in the mining district. The plume of contamination is about 20 square miles in size with a highly acidic core area of two-square-miles with high concentrations of sulfates and heavy metals.  It will take 4 DECADES to cleanup.  How do you clean up groundwater?  Has it ever been done successfully?    read the full article http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/July/07_enrd_488.html 

Back to the Copper Queen a more recent article from the Arizona Department of Environmental quality dated 1/25/2008 once again addresses the Bisbee and Naco water supplies, guess 25 years was not long enough for Phelps Dodge to learn how to prevent contamination of groundwater http://www.azdeq.gov/function/news/2008/download/0125.pdf . 

read about "modern mining" and its excellent track record.  If we are counting on high copper prices to make the Rosemont mine economically feasible, what happens when the price of copper drops.  Will we be another grouse creek mine http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/ModernMiningFINAL.pdf  

The Grouse Creek mine, located adjacent to the largest wilderness complex in the lower 48 states, was heralded as a "state of the art" mine when it began operations in 1994.  Just three years later, the mine shut its doors -- producing no profits and leaving behind severe environmental problems.

Hecla Mining Company (Hecla), owner and operator of the Grouse Creek Mine, began construction in 1993.   Before it produced its first ounce of gold, construction activities caused a major landslide, burying 100 yards of Jordan Creek -- a stream federally designated as critical salmon habitat. Read the article http://www.bettermines.org/cvgrousecreek.cfm  

Questions concerning water resources

1.      There are already strains on the water supply coming from the Colorado River to the Central Arizona Project.  One look at lake levels along the damn system will verify this.  If water allocations are reduced due to lack of water will Augusta Resources guarantee in writing that the reduction in water will be absorbed by them in their allocation and not the public of Green Valley and Sahurita even if that leads to the requirement of shutting down or slowing activity at the mine?

2.      If the groundwater in our area becomes polluted like the Green Valley water where, will the water for all of us living in the Sonoita/Patagonia corridor come from and will Augusta Resources guarantee they will pay all related expenses to get it piped directly to our homes?

3.   Many residents in this area are on fixed income.  If their wells run dry many cannot afford to have them drilled deeper.  Proving that the mines are responsible for lower groundwater tables is difficult.  If this becomes a problem will Augusta guarantee that they will pay for well improvements necessary to provide water?

4.   Is the Cumulative effect of all of the area mines water use and contamination problems being considered in the approval of these mines?

5.    In Augusta's water plan they claim that in 2007 they would recharge 15,000 acre feet  in the Santa Cruz Basin.  What is the status of this claim?

What can you do to help stop this mine?

Get involved, sign petitions, write your congressman Click here to find out more

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