US judge blocks Canadian company’s mine project in Arizona
Posted Aug 1, 2019 10:48:32 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PHOENIX — A federal judge has overturned the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a Canadian company’s planned new copper mine in southeastern Arizona, ruling that the agency improperly evaluated and considered water use issues associated with the Rosemont Mine.
Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. said Thursday the ruling blocks construction of the project in the Santa Rita Mountains on part of the Coronado National Forest southeast of Tucson.
The company said U.S. District Judge James A. Soto in Tucson misinterpreted federal mining laws and Forest Service regulations and that it will appeal his ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Conservation groups that challenged the project hailed Soto’s ruling, saying it recognized that the Forest Service failed to protect public land and resources.
Anita Snow And Paul Davenport, The Associated Press
