Release of an initial environmental impact statement on the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson is running behind schedule and will be delayed eight months until November 2009.

Coronado National Forest spokesman John Able said there would still be a 90-day comment period after the initial release before a final environmental impact statement is issued in July 2010, at which time the forest service would issue a recommended decision on whether to allow the mine to proceed.

The Udall Foundation’s Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution has been hired to facilitate group of public citizens’ evaluation of comments at previous hearings. The Tucson-based institute was established by Congress in 1998 to work nationally mediating resolutions to environmental conflicts on public lands.