By Yoohyun Jung | Arizona Daily Star
A Maricopa County judge on Friday overturned a state air-quality permit issued to Rosemont Copper in January 2013 for its planned mine southeast of Tucson.
Superior Court Judge Crane McClennen ruled that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s action in granting the permit to Rosemont Copper was “contrary to law, was arbitrary and capricious, and was an abuse of discretion.”
Rosemont Copper, which is owned by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, is planning a $1.2 billion project that would mine 243 million pounds of copper annually in the Santa Rita Mountains, partly on national forest land, about 30 miles from Tucson.