Welcome

Thank you for visiting the Rosemont Copper Project Environmental Impact Statement website. We hope this site provides the information necessary for to understand the project under consideration and the associated analysis.

Project Description

The project being considered is an open-pit mine that affects lands managed by the Coronado National Forest, roughly 30 miles south of Tucson, Arizona. Rosemont Copper Company submitted a proposal to extract locatable minerals such as copper, molybdenum, and silver from an approximate 955-acre pit (two thirds of which are on lands owned by Rosemont Copper Company). Ore processing, waste rock, and tailings are proposed to be located on approximately 3,330 acres of National Forest System lands.

Background/Process Overview

In March 2008, the Coronado National Forest began the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process to analyze the proposal submitted by Rosemont Copper Company - Mine Plan of Operations. Scoping the proposal is the starting point in the Environmental Impact Statement process under NEPA. Over 11,000 scoping comment submissions were received.

From scoping, issues were identified and used to develop alternatives to the proposal. Feasible alternatives, which allow the claimant to reasonably exercise their statutory rights and vested property rights in minerals while seeking to minimize adverse environmental impacts on National Forest surface resources, are then described and analyzed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision will follow once comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement are analyzed and incorporated into the document.

Legal Framework

The General Mining Act of 1872 confers a statutory right to enter upon public lands open to location in pursuit of locatable minerals, and under valid existing mining claims to conduct mining activities, in compliance with federal and state statutes and regulations. The Multiple-Use Mining Act of 1955 and Forest Service mining regulations at 36 C.F.R. Part 228 subpart A, recognize these rights and confirm the ability to conduct mining activities on public lands, locate necessary facilities, and conduct reasonable and incidental uses to mining on public lands.