Final planning is expected to be completed sometime early next year on a massive copper mining project roughly 30 miles to the southwest of Tucson.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has granted an air quality permit to what is officially called Copper World, a $1.7 billion project spearheaded by the Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Incorporated.
It is thought that the mine will produce up to 94,000 tons of copper per year in the next 20 years, a figure that will make Copper World the third largest cathode producer in the country.
In a statement, Peter Kukielski, Hudbay president, said the mine will “meet the growing need for critical minerals in the U.S. related to increased manufacturing capacity, infrastructure development, increased energy independence, domestic battery supply chain needs, and strengthening the nation’s security.”
Two years ago, Hudbay released a feasibility study noting that Copper World would be a two-phase project, with phase one seeing the development of a stand alone operation. Phase two will see Copper World’s expansion onto land owned by the federal government.
The project is expected to increase the nearly 100-year-old Hudbay’s overall copper production by at least 50%. The fourth largest copper producer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Hudbay has for years centered its operations in Manitoba, but has also taken on projects in Chile and Peru.
The Copper World project has been opposed by various environmental groups as well as nearby residents. In granting the air quality permit, charged Russ McSpadden, advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, Arizona’s Environmental Quality Department provided a “dangerous gift to the mining industry.”
In a column for the Arizona Daily Star McSpadden earlier also accused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of failing to conduct a “sufficient environmental impact analysis” of the Copper World project.
In a survey commissioned late last year by the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce it was revealed that 72% of respondents supported the concept of copper mining in the state, with 53% specifically in favor of the Copper World project.
January 6, 2025
By Garry Boulard
