By Tony Davis | Arizona Daily Star
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the final government permit needed to start construction on the Rosemont Mine, a Corps spokesman said Friday afternoon.
The Corps gave Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals a federal Clean Water Act permit allowing it to discharge fill material and other kinds of material into several washes on the mine site to accommodate the project. The permit came nearly eight years after Hudbay’s predecessor Augusta Resource Corp. first applied for it, and nearly 12 years after controversy over the mine first erupted.
If the $1.9 billion project can survive several lawsuits from Indian tribes and environmental groups, Hudbay will be able to start construction later this year and begin mining two and one-half years later.
