Resolution Copper

Last updated

Aerial view of part of the Resolution Copper Project, the town of Superior and Queen Creek Canyon. US-60E goes up the Canyon (right), and the Resolution exploration shaft and facilities are at the canyon's south rim, at right center (white). Oak Flat campground is beyond the Resolution facilities. Superior AZ + Queen Crk Canyon.jpg
Aerial view of part of the Resolution Copper Project, the town of Superior and Queen Creek Canyon. US-60E goes up the Canyon (right), and the Resolution exploration shaft and facilities are at the canyon's south rim, at right center (white). Oak Flat campground is beyond the Resolution facilities.

Resolution Copper (RCM) is a joint venture owned by Rio Tinto and BHP formed to develop and operate an underground copper mine near Superior, Arizona, U.S. The project targets a deep-seated porphyry copper deposit located under the now inactive Magma Mine. Rio Tinto has reported an inferred resource of 1.624 billion tonnes containing 1.47 percent copper and 0.037 percent molybdenum at depths exceeding 1,300 metres (0.81 mi). [1] [2] The proposed mine is one of the largest copper resources in North America. [2] Following the passage of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, many Native American and conservation groups oppose the copper mine because it will destroy the area above Oak Flat and around the deposit. [3]

Contents

Overview

Resolution Copper estimates the $64 billion mining project would run over 60 years [4] and produce 25% of projected future US copper demand for several decades. [2]

Investment

Through 2012 Resolution Copper had invested almost a billion dollars in the Superior project, and planned a $6 billion investment to develop the mine, if the Federal land exchange is approved. Pending approval, the project budget was cut from about $200 million in 2012 to $50 million in 2013. [5] By early 2023, more than $2 billion had been spent on exploratory work and preparation for the project. [6]

Resolution Copper also owns the mineral rights acquired from ASARCO to the Superior East deposit which is another deep-seated porphyry deposit within a mile to the east. [7] [8]

Mining method

Example of a caving zone, the Henderson molybdenum mine "glory hole" in Colorado, 1989. HendersonMineGloryHole.jpg
Example of a caving zone, the Henderson molybdenum mine "glory hole" in Colorado, 1989.

The company plans to use block caving which creates subsidence. In an undated report, the company splits subsidence into three categories collectively called "surface impact zones". These are intact zone, fracture zone and cave zone. The cave zone would be 112 miles long and over 850 feet deep. [9]

The company has been exploring solutions for the 1.599 billion tonnes or 19.9 billion cubic feet tailings which will be produced. One possibility is using existing mined out open pits as tailing deposits, a brownfield known as the Pinto Valley mine in Gila County, Arizona or a greenfield site on 12 sections of land on the far northern end of what's known as Superstition Vistas. [10]

Project history

As of 2008 the project was stalled pending a proposed land swap with the federal government. [11] Resolution Copper has proposed to give the federal government 5,376 acres (21.76 km2) of environmentally sensitive land in Arizona in exchange for the 2,422-acre (9.80 km2) oak flat federal parcel, [12] which includes the Oak Flat Campground (protected since 1955) and several outdoor climbing sites including the Mine, Atlantis and the Pond. [13]

In May 2009, Arizona Democratic representative Ann Kirkpatrick introduced legislation in Congress to complete the land swap. The swap then had the support of Arizona's two Republican senators. [14] The swap also has had considerable opposition and may have cost Ann Kirkpatrick her congressional seat in her 2010 loss to Paul Gosar; however, she regained the seat in 2012 and won again in 2014. [15] [16] [17]

In 2013, the proposed land swap was readdressed when Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R, AZ-4) introduced the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013 (H.R. 687; 113th Congress). [18] The bill provided that the Apache Leap Cliffs, which rise prominently just east of the town of Superior, remain in federal ownership, and directed the Secretary of the Interior to manage Apache Leap so as to preserve its natural character. The bill required Resolution Copper to surrender any mining rights it has over the Apache Leap cliffs, and deeding 110 acres of private land in the area of cliffs to the federal government. [19]

A rider introduced by John McCain and Jeff Flake in Section 3003 the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, included the provisions of the stalled Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act. The Act cleared the way for the land swap in which Resolution would receive 2,422 acres of National Forest land in exchange for deeding to the federal government 5,344 acres of private land. [20] The mine would impact an area set aside in 1955 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower which is sacred to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Both the Oak Flat Campground, an area dotted with petroglyphs and historic and prehistoric sites, and the steep cliffs at Apache Leap would be affected. [21] In July 2015, a march protesting the land swap arrived in Washington DC. [22]

The initial report was rushed through during the final days of the Donald Trump administration, and under the provisions of Section 3003 ownership was scheduled to occur on March 11, 2021. The Joe Biden administration withdrew the report on March 2 to demand more input from the public and Indigenous nations. [23] On March 18, Representative Raúl Grijalva reintroduced the Save Oak Flat Act for the fourth time, which would repeal the mandate to transfer the land transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper. [24]

Reactions

The San Carlos Apache Tribe, the National Audubon Society in Tucson, the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club as well as the National Congress of American Indians have joined in the fight against the Resolution Copper land swap. [21] Native American groups and conservationists worry about the impact to surrounding areas and have led a strong opposition to the land exchange. [25] James Anaya, former United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said that without community and tribal support, Rio Tinto should abandon its Resolution Copper mining project. [26] In 2014, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said she was "profoundly disappointed with the Resolution Copper land-swap provision, which has no regard for lands considered sacred by nearby Indian tribes". [27]

By January 2015, 104,646 people had signed the petition, "We the People|Stop Apache Land Grab". Jodi Gillette, Special Assistant to the President for Native American Affairs, quickly gave an official White House response, vowing that the Obama administration will work with Resolution Copper's parent company Rio Tinto to determine how to work with the tribes to preserve their sacred areas. [28]

In response, Resolution Copper has pledged its commitment to respectful cooperation with the Tribes. The company has funded a new Tribal Monitor Training hosted by the US Forest Service, a program designed to train and employ tribal members in survey work identifying and recording traditional cultural locations alongside archaeologists. [29] Parent Rio Tinto has partnered with Harvard University to produce a case study by The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, studying how mining industries and tribes can increase economic development by establishing a trusting relationship. [30]

Apaches have marched six times in protest of the site, most recently in February 2020. [31] In face of the mounting protests, the Biden administration ultimately pushed back the environmental assessment due to inadequate public and tribal input in March 2021. [32] In a June 2021 op-ed for the Los Angeles Times , the chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe objected that it would not only destroy his tribe's cultural heritage, but also the local tourism industry and Arizona's groundwater supply. [33] It is estimated that the project would collapse a region 2 miles (3.2 km) wide around Oak Flat into a sinkhole 1,100 feet (340 m) deep. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superior, Arizona</span> Town in Pinal County, Arizona

Superior is a town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. Superior, which is in northern Pinal County, is the oldest town in that county. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 2,407. Superior was founded as a mining town for the Silver King and the later Magma mines; silver was mined at first, and then transitioned to copper. Currently, exploitation of the huge Resolution Copper deposit is being explored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BHP</span> Australian multinational mining and petroleum company

BHP Group Limited is an Australian multinational mining, metals, and natural gas petroleum public company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonto National Forest</span> Protected area in Arizona

The Tonto National Forest, encompassing 2,873,200 acres, is the largest of the six national forests in Arizona and is the ninth largest national forest in the United States. The forest has diverse scenery, with elevations ranging from 1,400 feet in the Sonoran Desert to 7,400 feet in the ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim. The Tonto National Forest is also the most visited "urban" forest in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rio Tinto (corporation)</span> Anglo-Australian multinational mining company

Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation. It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain, from the Spanish government. It has grown through a long series of mergers and acquisitions. Although primarily focused on extraction of minerals, it also has significant operations in refining, particularly the refining of bauxite and iron ore. It has joint head offices in London and Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennecott Utah Copper</span> Major copper mining and refining company

Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world in Bingham Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. The company was first formed in 1898 as the Boston Consolidated Mining Company. The current corporation was formed in 1989. The mine and associated smelter produce 1% of the world's copper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porphyry copper deposit</span> Type of copper ore body

Porphyry copper deposits are copper ore bodies that are formed from hydrothermal fluids that originate from a voluminous magma chamber several kilometers below the deposit itself. Predating or associated with those fluids are vertical dikes of porphyritic intrusive rocks from which this deposit type derives its name. In later stages, circulating meteoric fluids may interact with the magmatic fluids. Successive envelopes of hydrothermal alteration typically enclose a core of disseminated ore minerals in often stockwork-forming hairline fractures and veins. Because of their large volume, porphyry orebodies can be economic from copper concentrations as low as 0.15% copper and can have economic amounts of by-products such as molybdenum, silver, and gold. In some mines, those metals are the main product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in Arizona, United States

The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, in southeastern Arizona, United States, was established in 1872 as a reservation for the Chiricahua Apache tribe as well as surrounding Yavapai and Apache bands removed from their original homelands under a strategy devised by General George Crook of setting the various Apache tribes against one another. Once nicknamed "Hell's Forty Acres" during the late 19th century due to poor health and environmental conditions, today's San Carlos Apaches successfully operate a Chamber of Commerce, the Apache Gold and Apache Sky Casinos, a Language Preservation program, a Culture Center, and a Tribal College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bingham Canyon Mine</span> Worlds largest open-pit copper mine, located in Utah, United States

The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest man-made excavation, and deepest open-pit mine in the world, which is considered to have produced more copper than any other mine in history – more than 19,000,000 short tons. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian multinational corporation. The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1,210 m) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine. The mine experienced a massive landslide in April 2013 and a smaller slide in September 2013.

Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, is a Chinese company listed in Hong Kong and in New York. A multinational aluminium company, its headquarters are in Beijing, People's Republic of China. It is the world's second-largest alumina producer and third-largest primary aluminium producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pebble Mine</span> Undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum mineral deposit in Alaska, United States

Pebble Mine is the common name of a proposed copper-gold-molybdenum mining project in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark. Discovered in 1987, optioned by Northern Dynasty Minerals in 2001, explored in 2002, drilled from 2002-2013 with discovery in 2005. Preparing for the permitting process began and administrative review lasted over 13 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper mining in the United States</span>

In the United States, copper mining has been a major industry since the rise of the northern Michigan copper district in the 1840s. In 2017, the US produced 1.27 million metric tonnes of copper, worth $8 billion, making it the world's fourth largest copper producer, after Chile, China, and Peru. Copper was produced from 23 mines in the US. Top copper producing states in 2014 were Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana. Minor production also came from Idaho, and Missouri. As of 2014, the US had 45 million tonnes of known remaining reserves of copper, the fifth largest known copper reserves in the world, after Chile, Australia, Peru, and Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper mining in Arizona</span>

In Arizona, copper mining has been a major industry since the 19th century. In 2007, Arizona was the leading copper-producing state in the country, producing 750 thousand metric tons of copper, valued at $5.54 billion. Arizona's copper production was 60% of the total for the United States. Copper mining also produces gold and silver as byproducts. Byproduct molybdenum from copper mining makes Arizona the nation's second-largest producer of that metal. Although copper mineralization was found by the earliest Spanish explorers of Arizona, the territory was remote, and copper could seldom be profitably mined and shipped. Early Spanish, Mexican, and American prospectors searched for gold and silver, and ignored copper. It was not until the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876 that copper became broadly economic to mine and ship to market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oyu Tolgoi mine</span> Gold and copper mine in southern Mongolia

The Oyu Tolgoi mine, also Oyuutolgoi, is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately 235 kilometres (146 mi) east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad. The site was discovered in 2001 and is being developed as a joint venture between Turquoise Hill Resources with 66% ownership and the Government of Mongolia with 34%. The mine began construction as of 2010 and shipped its first batch of copper on 9 July 2013.

Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf Lundin and operated by Lukas Lundin. While it was incorporated to pursue an interest in a diamond mine in Brazil, the company re-structured and raised funds to develop the Storliden mine in Sweden. It purchased the Swedish Zinkgruvan Mine from Rio Tinto and then merged with Arcon International Resources for its Galmoy Mine in Ireland and Eurozinc for its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal. The company subsequently purchased and operated the Eagle mine, Candelaria mine, and Chapada mine.

Turquoise Hill Resources was a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and a majority-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The company was called Ivanhoe Mines until August 2, 2012 when a financing agreement was completed with Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto acquired full ownership of Turquoise Hill in December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013</span> Proposed US federal law

The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013 is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. H.R. 687 would authorize a land exchange in Arizona between the federal government and a mining company. Under H.R. 687, the United States Forest Service would convey about 2,400 acres of land in southeast Arizona to Resolution Copper Mining LLC in exchange for about 5,400 acres of company-owned land. Of the company land, about 1,200 acres would become part of the National Forest System, and about 4,200 acres would be administered as conservation areas by the Bureau of Land Management. If the property sought by Resolution Copper is appraised at more than the appraised value of the property that the company offers for exchange, the company could donate additional land or make a cash payment to the United States to make the final exchange of equal value. If the company’s property is appraised for more than the federal acreage, the difference in the value would be considered a donation to the federal government. According to the Committee Report on the bill, the "mine could provide up to one-quarter of the nation's estimated annual copper needs" and the mining company estimates that the "total economic impact of the mine will exceed $60 billion and support 3,700 jobs annually." Opponents of the bill argue that the swap has not been thoroughly studied, that the mining company has failed to indicate where it will get much needed water for the mine, and that Native American tribes have not been properly consulted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015</span> 2015 defense spending bill

The Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 was a National Defense Authorization Act. According to the House Armed Services Committee, which oversaw the legislation, the bill would be "the comprehensive legislation to authorize the budget authority of the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy." The total appropriations that are authorized amount to approximately $600 billion for fiscal year 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molybdenum mining in the United States</span>

Molybdenum mining in the United States produced 65,500 metric tons of molybdenum in 2014, worth US$1.8 billion. The US was the world's second-largest molybdenum producer, after China, and provided 25% of the world's supply of molybdenum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oak Flat (Arizona)</span> Federally-protected Native American sacred land

Oak Flat is in Pinal County about 40 miles (64 km) east of Phoenix in the Tonto National Forest, a high desert setting at 3,900 feet (1,200 m) elevation. The land is sacred to Native Americans from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and many other Arizona tribes. This federally-protected area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and features a National Forest Service public campground. The landscape includes Apache Leap cliff, the mesa of Oak Flat, and Devil's Canyon, all of which have long been popular with hikers, birders, climbers, off-roaders, hunters, and members of the area's indigenous tribes. Oak Flat has been subject to attempts by the federal government to sell it to mining interests since 2002, against the wishes of the San Carlos Apache tribe.

References

  1. Resolution Copper Mining LLC reports an Inferred Resource, 29 May 2008 news release
  2. 1 2 3 "History". About Us. Resolution Copper Mining. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  3. 1 2 "This land is sacred to the Apache, and they are fighting to save it". Washington Post. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  4. Allen, Lee (June 4, 2015). "Oak Flat Protesters Plan March on Washington to Protest Apache Land Grab". Indian Country Today Media Network. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  5. Resolution Copper Mining "Letter to the community", November 30, 2012
  6. Krauss, Clifford; Kalifa, Tamir (January 27, 2023). "A Copper Mine Could Advance Green Energy but Scar Sacred Land". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  7. Bureau of Land Management lead file AMC60069
  8. Sell, James D. "Porphyry Copper Deposits of the American Cordillera". "Arizona Geological Society Digest 20" 1995. pp. 373–95.
  9. "Environment". Resolution Copper Mining. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  10. Resolution Copper Resolution Copper: FAQs undated, retrieved 17 September 2015
  11. Niemuth, Nyal J. "Arizona". Mining Engineering. May 2008. p.71.
  12. DRAFT Environmental Impact Statement, United States Department of Agriculture, ES-1.6.2
  13. , Queen Creek Canyon
  14. Kelly, Erin, and Dan Nowicki, Arizona Republic (21 May 2009): Bill revives land swap for Arizona copper mine, accessed 29 May 2009.
  15. Miller, Sean J. (May 11, 2010). "Arizona lawmakers spark ire of Apaches over copper mine, land exchange". The Hill. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  16. Miller, Sean J. (September 27, 2010). "Legislative setbacks could be costly for freshman Democrat". The Hill. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  17. "Live Results in U.S. House for Arizona". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  18. "H.R. 687 – Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  19. US Congress, Senate Bill 339 20 Nov, 2013.
  20. "Once Again, The Fight for Religious Freedom in America Begins". The Apache Messenger. December 22, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  21. 1 2 "San Carlos Apache Tribe Announces Towns of Superior and Queen Valley Join Opposition to H.R. 687 Southeast Conservation and Land Exchange Act of 2013". NewsRx. April 7, 2013.
  22. "Resolution Copper: 6 Egregious Examples of Parent Rio Tinto's Rights Violations Worldwide". Indian Country Today Media Network. July 23, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  23. "Biden administration pauses transfer of holy Native American land to mining firm". the Guardian. March 2, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  24. Akbarzai, Sahar. "Arizona Democrat reintroduces bill to protect sacred Apache site from planned copper mine". CNN. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  25. Bregel, Emily (December 11, 2014). "Apache Tribe Distressed by Privatization of Sacred Land". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  26. Anaya, James (December 28, 2014). "Copper Mine Will Hurt Tribes and the Environment". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  27. U.S. Department of the Interior (December 9, 2014). "Statement by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015" . Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  28. "White House Responds to 'Stop Apache Land Grab' Petition". Indian Country Today Media Network . January 13, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  29. Protecting cultural heritage at Resolution Copper.
  30. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
  31. O'Brien, Brendan (February 28, 2020). "Apache tribe marches to protect sacred Arizona site from copper mine". Reuters. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  32. Miller, Emily McFarlan (March 1, 2021). "US Forest Service temporarily halts transfer of Native American sacred site Oak Flat". Religion News Service. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  33. "Op-Ed: Will the Biden administration stop the cultural and environmental atrocity at Oak Flat?". Los Angeles Times. June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.

Further reading