Arizona’s best-kept secret is an impending mining catastrophe in the Patagonia Mountains. Mine proponents have named the Australia-based South 32 Hermosa Mine the largest economic development project in Santa Cruz County history. However, mining is very expensive.

South 32 will discharge mining site water at a rate of more than 6 million gallons per day into Hershaw Creek and then into the Sonoita Creek basin, where the town’s wells are located. As noted in a 2012 paper by a University of Arizona scientist, many more toxic metals will be mobilized, adding to those already in the food chain of species, but USGS scientists augmented by their contributions. The Arizona Department of Water issued the permit, and that decision is currently on appeal in the Maricopa County Superior Court.

Hazardous local and state roads

Scenic state highways AZ 82 and 83, which run north of the four corners of Patagonia and Sonoita, carry about 180 concentrate-laden trucks daily up and down treacherous hills to unspecified terminals along I-10. so the traffic situation will get worse. Tucson’s East Corridor. The truck will be pulled from a mountain mine courtesy of a new parkland collected by South 32 and donated to Santa Cruz County.

High-voltage power lines encroach on national forest land, posing fire threat

Unisource, which is owned by Canada-based power distribution conglomerate Fortis, will use 60-foot high-voltage towers and power lines to power the South 32 mine site, which is prone to erosion across public forestlands. It will create traces. Especially to Flax Canyon (south of Patagonia), a very unique wildlife habitat.

Additionally, Unisource is now proposing a power supply far in excess of what South 32 needs. why? Is Unisource envisioning more mining activity in the Patagonian Mountains?

Disrupting the new economy

Over the past 40-plus years, after the bankruptcy of the Asarco mine, the Patagonia-Sonoita region has been eager to grow a new economy. Asarko’s legacy is toxic tailings and horizontal mines, and despite repeated remediation efforts, dangerous pollutants still leak into the local watershed daily.

The University of Arizona has documented the success of this “nature-based recovery economy.” Santa Cruz County has an annual GDP of $53.7 million, more than 1,200 jobs, and $121.7 million in corporate sales. And state/local tax revenue is almost $5 million. (Nature-Based Recovery Economy in Santa Cruz County, Arizona | Agricultural and Resource Economics)

basic mineral economics

The South 32 Hermosa Site Mine’s main competitor is a large facility already in operation in Alaska, the Canadian-owned Red Dog Mine.

The South 32 Hermosa Mine Project is not as competitive as the Red Dog Mine, where much higher-grade ore is mined open-pit rather than lower-grade ore extracted from very deep tunnels. Red Dog also uses private roads and harbors to transport toxic concentrates, protecting the public from inevitable toxic dust and spills from traffic accidents. Perhaps it would be more accurate for South 32 to identify a shortage of US-based smelters instead.

South 32, meanwhile, has skillfully switched its focus to manganese mining, claiming to produce high-quality battery-grade manganese elsewhere in Santa Cruz County. The same production facilities are popping up all over the world. For example, Canada Manganese Company, which operates in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada, plans to develop vast reserves of more abundant ore and start a battery-grade manganese production facility without significant environmental impact. are planning

Last but not least, as Tesla and other battery developers have already demonstrated with their adoption of manganese-free lithium iron phosphate-based batteries (LFPs), innovation is moving at a very rapid pace. I’m in. What you need today may not be needed tomorrow.

Don’t be fooled by claims that the South 32 project is on so-called patented (i.e. private property) and cannot be stopped. The future of South 32’s environmental permits now rests on review boards among major federal agencies.

Contact federal and state elected officials. We call on them to put in place all regulatory tools to address this issue in order to draw their attention and support the public interest.