Name of the Project
Rosemont copper project.

Location
Arizona, in the US.

Project Owner/s
Hudbay Minerals.

Project Description
Rosemont is one of the world’s best undeveloped copper projects.

The project has total proven and probable reserves of 537.1-million tonnes grading 0.45% copper, 0.012% molybdenum and 4.58 g/t silver. A technical report completed on the project in 2017 envisages a traditional openpit shovel/truck operation.

The project is expected to produce about 127 000 t/y of copper over the first ten years of operation.

The technical report envisages a mine life of 19 years.

Potential Job Creation
The project is expected to create more than 2 500 direct jobs and 4 060 jobs during construction.

The mine is expected to employ more than 500 full-time employees in mining, process operations and general administration during active mining.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project is expected to deliver a 15.5% after-tax unlevered internal rate of return at a copper price of $3/lb.

Capital Expenditure
The project will require an investment of $1.92-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, declined to overturn a 2019 decision on May 12 that blocked the development of the Rosemont openpit copper mine.

In a split decision, the court agreed with the District Court of Arizona’s ruling that the US Forest Service relied on incorrect assumptions regarding its legal authority and the validity of Rosemont’s unpatented mining claims in the issuance of the final environmental-impact statement.

Writing for the panel’s majority, Circuit Judge William Fletcher said that no one disputed that Rosemont had valid mining rights on the land where it planned to dig the 914-m-deep by 2 000-m-wide openpit. However, the 1.9-billion tons of waste rock that the company planned to dump on 990 ha of National Forest land was an issue.

When operations cease after 20 to 25 years, waste rock on the 990 ha would be 213 m deep and occupy the land in perpetuity, Fletcher said.

The US Forest Service approved Rosemont’s mining plan of operations on two separate grounds.

Firstly, the service concluded that Section 612 of the Surface Resources and Multiple Use Act of 1995 gives Rosemont the right to dump its waste rock on open National Forest Land, regardless of whether it has any mining rights on that land as a “use reasonably incident” to its operations at the mine pit.

Secondly, the service assumed that, under the Mining Law of 1872, Rosemont has valid mining claims on the 990 ha it proposes to occupy with its waste rock.

The district court held that neither ground supports the Forest Service’s approval for Rosemont’s mining plan of operations. It held that Section 612 grants no rights beyond those granted by the Mining Law of 1872. It further held that there is no basis for the service’s assumption that Rosemont’s mining claims are valid under this law.

Based on a conclusion that there are no valuable minerals on the claims, the court held that the claims are, actually, invalid. The district court, therefore, concluded that the service acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving the entirety of Rosemont’s mining plan in its final EIS and record of decision.

He noted, however, that the Ninth Circuit did not rely, as the district court did, on a conclusion that no valuable minerals existed on the claims, but rather that the claims were invalid because no valuable minerals had been found on the claims.

Hudbay will review the decision, but has emphasised that it will continue to pursue its alternative plan to advance the adjacent Copper World project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Hudbay Minerals, tel +1 416362 8181 or email info@hudbayminerals.com.