By Mariaan Webb

May 16, 2022 - The National Mining Association CEO Rich Nolan has slammed the federal appeals court’s decision to block the Rosemont copper mining project, in Arizona, warning that “flawed rulings” will ensure the US watches the global energy race from the sidelines.

He was responding to last week’s split decision in which the Ninth Circuit agreed with the District Court of Arizona’s ruling that the US Forest Service relied on incorrect assumptions regarding its legal authority and the validity of Rosemont’s unpatented mining claims in the issuance of the final environmental impact statement.

Writing for the panel’s majority, Circuit Judge William Fletcher said that no one disputed that Rosemont had valid mining rights on the land where it planned to dig the 3 000 feet deep by 6 500 feet wide openit. However, the 1.9-billion tons of waste rock that the company planned to dump on 2 447 acres of National Forest land was an issue.

“We continue to believe that the District Court’s decision was fundamentally flawed, conflicts with more than a century of US Supreme Court decisions on the Mining Law, and destabilises the careful balance required between the vital need for responsible domestic mineral development and the preservation of certain federal lands,” said Nolan.

He pointed out that the USGS found that the country’s import dependence increased this year, even while mineral demands were skyrocketing.

“This project is a prime example of why that is the case. More than 12 years and $100-million have been put into the permitting process and, yet, this proposed project – which could positively contribute to the realisation of our country’s electrification and future energy goals – remains stalled,” said Nolan.

Project owner Hudbay said last week that while it reviewed the decision, it would continue to pursue its alternative plan to advance the adjacent Copper World project.

Hudbay has unveiled some initial plans for Copper World and Rosemont, stating that it soon-to-be-released preliminary economic assessment will incorporate a two-phase mine plan. The first will be a standalone operation using Hudbay’s private land for processing infrastructure and contemplating mining portions of Copper World and Rosemont located on patented mining claims.

The first phase is expected to require only state and local permits and is expected to reflect a 15-year mine life. 

The second phase of the mine plan is expected to extend the mine life and incorporate an expansion onto federal lands to mine the entire Rosemont and Copper World deposits. The second phase of the mine plan would be subject to the federal permitting process.

Hudbay expects it will be able to pursue the federal permits within the constraints imposed by the decision, if any subsequent appeals are not successful.