PATAGONIA, Ariz. (KGUN) — A big new mining project is coming together near Patagonia—-promising well-paying jobs, while environmentalists worry about what the mine could do to the area.
Developers of the South 32 Hermosa mine near Patagonia say it will be great for the economy, with plenty of jobs, plenty of materials critical for national defense and maybe to power an electric car if you choose. But environmentalists in the area are worried about the mine.
South 32 says it will be one of the biggest zinc mines in the world. Zinc is critical in steel making and a wide variety of manufacturing— and we depend on other countries for most of it.
The mine says manganese in the mine is so important for advanced batteries and other tech items that the Defense Department gave it a twenty million dollar grant to explore extracting manganese.
Pat Risner is President of the South32 Hermosa Project
He says, “It will be eight to 900 long term jobs, $90,000 a year jobs, grow the economy by about a third.”
Many of those workers will operate mining equipment by remote control from a control center to be built in Nogales.
South 32 says their plan for an underground mine is much better for the environment than a large open pit mine.
They say they will limit dust by crushing rock underground and sealing up what they extract. They plan to use much less processing water than other mines do, clean the water and recycle it into a creek.
Jodi Stellar of Patagonia Area Resource Alliance worries about the effect of dust when the mine is operating and says dust from construction is a problem right now.
“They're taking water out of the mountain. We don't know what that means for the environment long term, but in a dry environment, it's not going to be good. They say they're returning the water to the environment, but it's not the same environment they're taking it out of.”
Stellar’s group is suing the US Environmental Protection Agency to deny the mine permits it would need to operate.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
