Hermosa Mining Proposal: Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver

Arizona Minerals, Inc. (AMI), a subsidiary of junior Canadian mining company Arizona Mining Inc (Wildcat Silver), has submitted a new proposal for extensive mineral exploration activities in the Patagonia Mountains, 6 miles southeast of Patagonia and 5-10 miles north of the US/Mexico border. These mining activities include conducting drilling activities, digging test pits, pumping millions of gallons of groundwater from the local aquifer, and driving construction equipment cross-country rather than on established roads, an activity that is strictly prohibited on the Coronado National Forest.

Patagonia Mountains by local photographer Gooch Goodwin

This project will likely compromise a critical cross-border wildlife corridor, adversely modify critical habitat for the jaguar and the Mexican spotted owl, and devastate Harshaw Creek, a biologically rich riparian area recently designated as a “municipal watershed” for the town of Patagonia.

The Coronado National Forest (CNF) has released a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and is currently accepting comments on this project. Deadline for comments is Friday, April 11, 2014. The Forest Service will continue to accept comments after the deadline and before a decision is issued, though your comments will not have legal standing for appeal. Decision expected July, 2014.

See below for an overview of proposed activities, a summary outlining potential impacts, and information on how to submit comments.

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

Arizona Mining Inc aka Wildcat Silver aka Arizona Minerals Inc. (AMI) plans to conduct the following activities 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, for 2 years:

One site of Hermosa Mineral Drilling Proposal: Corral Canyon in the Patagonia Mountains.

Drilling Activities: Drilling /excavating will occur at 46 “characterization sites,” directly impacting 13.9 acres in the Coronado National Forest. The project activities encompass 7350 acres. Activities at each site will include “exploration” drilling to test for copper, silver and other minerals; “geotechnical” drilling to test soil and rock conditions for future tailings and waste rock piles; “hydrogeological” drilling to test groundwater conditions for the future open pit; and construction of 16 “test pits,” each 3’x20’ and 20 feet deep to test conditions for future waste and tailings pile sites.
Water Use: Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver estimates it will use 3,525,800 gallons of groundwater, pumped from:
Access road construction: Primary access will be via the Town of Patagonia and Harshaw Road (NFS 49), portions of which are maintained by both the county and the Forest Service. Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver also proposes to:

Reconstruction of existing Forest roads;
Build 2.67 miles of temporary access roads; and
Carve 3.3 miles of “overland vehicle paths” (OVPs), an invented euphemism for cross-country vehicle travel, which is strictly prohibited on the Coronado National Forest. By inventing this new category, Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver is avoiding best management practices and other measures that would otherwise be required for temporary access roads.

Click for more Project Details of Hermosa Mining Proposal by Arizona Minerals / Wildcat Silver /Arizona Mining Inc
Wildcat Silver mineral drilling operation

SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS

The Coronado National Forest is planning to prepare a simple environmental assessment (EA) for this project. However, the impacts of these activities are likely to be so significant the CNF must instead prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) and fully analyze the direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of this action.

Specific impacts include:

Hermosa project is located within critical habitat for both the endangered jaguar and the threatened Mexican spotted owl and is likely to adversely modify this habitat and potentially jeopardize these species.
This project is likely to have significant impacts on the 100+ other special status species known to occur in the Patagonias. For a full list of special status species, visit http://www.patagoniaalliance.org/federally-threatened-endangered-and-sensitive-species-patagonia-mountain-area/
This project is likely to compromise a critical cross-border wildlife corridor, severing connectivity to Mexico for the endangered jaguar and ocelot, as well as other wide-ranging native species.
The Hermosa project, especially the extensive cross-country travel being proposed, will cause significant impacts to Harshaw Creek, the associated riparian areas, and the surrounding watershed, which was recently designated by the Forest Service as a “municipal watershed” for the town of Patagonia.
Recreation in the Patagonia Mountains will be greatly impacted from the continuous industrial activity.
When considered together with impacts from ongoing border security activities, current and growing impacts of climate change, and regional population growth, this project will undoubtedly have significant impacts on the environment.

One of 46 drilling/excavation sites for the Hermosa mining exploration proposal

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver is a Vancouver based junior mining company that shares offices with Rosemont Mine parent company Augusta Resources, and was started by the same corporate officers.
In 2011, SIA, PARA and Defenders sued the Coronado National Forest over its approval of Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s previous proposal, which was in violation of both NEPA and the Endangered Species Act. In response to our lawsuit, the Coronado National Forest withdrew its approval of Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s initial proposal.
This project is proposed in anticipation of Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s future plans to dig an extensive open-pit mine that could potentially impact almost 14,000 acres, or over 20 square miles, of forest lands in the Patagonia Mountains.

SUBMITTING COMMENTS

Deadline for Comments is Friday, April 11, 2014. Decision expected July, 2014.

Submit comments:

When submitting your comments include your name, postal address, title of the project (Hermosa Drilling Project) and signature (or verification of identity upon request.)

Email: comments-southwestern-coronado@fs.fed.us with subject: Hermosa Drilling Project. Electronic comments including attachments may be submitted by email in word (.doc), rich text format (.rtf), text (.txt), portable document format (.pdf), and hypertext markup language (.html)
Facsimile: 520-388-8305, ATTN: Margie DeRose
U.S. Mail: Coronado National Forest, ATTN: Margie DeRose, 300 W. Congress St., Tucson AZ 85701
Hand-delivery: 6th floor, 300 W, Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701 (Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm, excluding Federal holidays)
Note: the names and addresses of those who comment will become part of the public record.
For more project information: contact Margie DeRose, Geologist/Project Manager, at (520)388-8341 or mbderose@fs.fed.us.
Only individuals who submit comments about this proposed project during a public comment period will be eligible to file an objection.

To download the mining plan of operations, public scoping notice and other relevant information: Link to USFS project page for Arizona Mining Inc / Wildcat Silver’s Hermosa project