By Tony Davis | Arizona Daily Star
The U.S. Forest Service will issue a draft decision today approving the proposed Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson.
The decision is a huge step forward for the mine and Rosemont Copper, although it still doesn’t make the mine a sure thing. The decision comes with key issues unresolved about impacts to neighboring streams, water quality and environmental mitigation, and about the mine’s ability to meet the federal Clean Water Act. But Forest Service officials say its decision will at least enable the mine to meet federal and state environmental laws.
Word of the decision came late Thursday in a news release from Augusta Resource Corp., the Canadian-based owner of Rosemont Copper, which would build the mine. The Forest Service will post the decision today on its Rosemont environmental impact statement website: Rosemonteis.us
