Supervisors had planned to consider the resolution at their Dec. 5 meeting but the decision was made to put off the discussion until Jan. 16.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said the delay was so the county can get more information about the proposed mine by Augusta Resource Corp. He indicated Augusta had not fully answered some previously asked questions.
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“I read it in the paper,” he said of the delay.
Huckelberry’s letter to Augusta said the company’s Jan. 16 presentation should in large part “relate directly to Augusta’s commitment to mitigating the adverse impacts of mining activities if Rosemont were to be permitted by the Federal government for operation.”
The county has no authority to stop a mine development since the area lies on federal and privately owned land, but Carroll said county opposition will carry considerable weight.
Augusta, a Canadian company, paid more than $20 million for 2,960 acres next to Forest Service land and has a grazing lease that would provide it with 12,000 acres for a mining claim.
Asarco had proposed building a mine at Rosemont in the 1990s, but copper prices that dropped to $1 or less a pound delayed those plans. Copper now sells for more than $3 a pound.
Augusta said it plans to meet the county’s open-space guidelines, to protect the Cienega basin water supply, to salvage topsoil for replacement and to screen much of the operation from the view of travelers on nearby State Route 83.
Augusta estimates there will be 340 direct high-paying jobs for the next 20 to 25 years and 700 indirectly supported jobs.
E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Jim Lamb, a reporter for the Green Valley News, by e-mail at jlamb@gvnews.com or call (520) 547-9749.
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