By Ryan Randazzo | The Arizona Republic
(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Resolution Copper.)
More than a mile below the rocky forest outside the small town of Superior, a half-dozen miners climb into a metal bucket damp with subterranean moisture for a slow hoist to the surface.
They are among roughly 370 workers employed by Resolution Copper Mining and its contractors, and they are building what could become the largest copper mine in the country. But they have yet to mine anything.
The project has cost $1.2 billion so far and will take perhaps five times that amount in additional preparation work before a single ounce of copper is retrieved from the depths.
Despite the money invested, Resolution has a variety of obstacles to overcome that range from “minor” details like providing cool air to the steamy depths of a shaft to the difficult task of persuading Congress to allow access to the copper deposit.
