Find Out What's Up with the Proposed Rosemont Mine

At Sustainable Tucson's October 9th meeting, Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, gave us an update on what is happening and what is likely to happen in the near future. It isn't a done deal. Several organizations, including Save the Scenic Santa Ritas and the Tohono O'odham nation are suing the mine.

Filmmaker Frances Causey also screened her documentary about the Rosemont Mine:

“Ours Is The Land” is a short film that depicts in moving and powerful detail the spiritual, cultural, and physical connection of the Tohono O’odham people of Arizona to Ce:wi Duag or the Santa Rita Mountains which are imperiled by the proposed creation of the mile-wide, half-mile deep Rosemont open pit copper mine. Desecrating this revered area with a mine would fundamentally alter the cultural landscape of the Tohono O’odham nation.

More information at:

http://www.rosemontminetruth.com/

What I learned from this presentation: The proposed mine will be built in one of the most biologically diverse regions of the country.  Ecotourism is a big boom to our 23 billion dollar tourist industry. Birdwatchers come from around the world to enjoy it. If the mine goes through, tourists will get a clear view of the huge, gaping pit as they drive down scenic highway 83. The economic impact of the 400 jobs the mine will create won't begin to equal even 1 % of what ecotourism brings to our state economy. The mine is expected to be in operation for 20 years, but the devastation to the region's diverse ecosystem and our water supply will last for hundreds of years.  

Impact on our water supply: The mine will be nearly 1 mile deep -  below the level of the aquifer and the ranchers' wells. That same aquifer provides Tucson with 20% of our water.  And the toxic tailings will end up in our water. When the mine stops running it will become a huge toxic lake.  The Rosemont mine has been formed into a limited liability company - so they will leave it for tax payers to clean up. We have an antiquated law in Arizona that allows mines to use as much water as they want.  All this during a drought that has drastically reduced the water level in Lake Mead where we get our CAP allotment.

The documentary "Cyanide Beach" tells how the directors of the Rosemont mine, were also on the board of Augusta. They promised the people of Sardinia, Italy that they would clean up the poisonous tailings left from their open pit gold mine, but instead they left a toxic lake that threatens the town's water supply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPALNtyFmHY

Please, write a letter to the editor telling how the Rosemont mine will personally impact you, your business or your family. Be sure to follow the guidelines and word count limit of the target publication (up to 150 words for the Arizona Daily Star.)

Some lesser known history on Arizona's mining tradition:

 https://raglooms-heirlooms.blogspot.com/2016/01/arizonas-real-mining-tradition.html

UPDATES HERE: 

http://www.sustainablelivingtucson.com/2018/10/find-out-whats-up-with-proposed.html

Some good news for the environment: 

US Forest Service resumes cleanup of abandoned mines:

https://arizonadailystar-az.newsmemory.com/?publink=040a12e0e_134aa05