A proposed open pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson will provide economic benefits to the region but a study done for a group opposing the mine says those benefits may be outweighed by the costs to Pima and Santa Cruz counties.
 Jamie Sturgess, vice president for Rosemont copper looks out over the proposed mine’s site off State Route 83. |
The Sonoran Institute released the study Feb. 11. It was done for Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, a group organized to oppose Augusta Resource Corp.’s proposed development of the Rosemont Copper Mine.
Josef Marlow, a mineral economist who wrote the study, said "the potential economic benefits of this mine are small compared to potential significant economic risks."
He said infrastructure costs for such things as roads and schools will put a burden on local jurisdictions.
Marlow noted studies, such as one written last year by George Leaming, a long-time mining economist who runs the Western Economic Analysis Center, "stress only the positive aspects of salaries, sales and taxes."
Leaming defended his study, saying there are standard formulas for developing an economic analysis Marlow’s study chose to ignore.
"It’s pretty much what you’d expect, considering the source," Leaming said of the Sonoran Institute’s study arguing it isn’t an economic analysis at all.
As an example, he said the study doesn’t account for the multiplyer economic impact of the 500 jobs the mine would bring to the region, saying only that it accounts for about 1 percent of the workforce of Pima and Santa Cruz counties. The multiplyer calculates a number of other jobs created as a result of the primary jobs.
"I think they just didn’t know how to figure it out," Leaming said. "But the fact is multiplyers are used all of the time in doing economic analysis."
For his Sonoran Institute study Marlow argues "you have to see how else land would be utilized if it were not mined, which is implicit in looking at the tourism industry. If you utilize projections of employment that Augusta has presented, it suggests an average payroll in excess of $14 million annually. Tourism was estimated in 2006 as bringing in $2.95 billion to the area. If we lost 1 percent of that revenue as a result of an open pit mine, that would be about twice the Rosemont payroll."
Jamie Sturgess, vice president of projects and environment for Rosemont Copper, sees the arguments about tourism as far-fetched.
"The biggest tourism event of the year in Tucson is going on right now with the gem and mineral show," Sturgess said. "Do you mean to tell me those people are going to stop coming?"
In fact, Sturgess suggested the mine could become an attraction in itself because of the technology it is planning to implement.
"I think thousands will come to see the new technology that we’ll be using," he said. "The technologies we’re proposing to use at this scale integrated in this manner have never before been used for any copper mine in the United States."
For his part Sturgess acknowledged Marlow’s study, saying it includes important points that will be included with the comments, concerns and issues for detailed technical analysis in the Environmental Impact Statement for the Rosemont Mine.
Inside Tucson Business, contributed to this report.
Dick Kamp, environmental liaison for Wick Communications, parent company of
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