A Canadian mining company calling itself the Arizona Copper Corp, a British Columbia based mineral exploration company focusing on base metal porphyry deposits in North America, incorporated in May 2007, is asking the Coronado National Forest for drilling rights in the national forest. It already has 34 mining stake claims in Bear Canyon. Experimental ore drilling has already begun. Now it wants the go-ahead from the National Forest Service to begin mining for this ore, which of course said OK but not until a public awareness program has been conducted and citizens' opinions have been collected. That part was completed 1 October 2010.
This company claims that since the price of copper has risen to $1300 a ton it is now profitable to mine here for copper, silver and gold. Bear Canyon is on the southern slopes of the Huachuca Mountains, just a few miles from the Mexican border, and out of sight of the populated area around Sierra Vista.
The General Mining Act of 1872 is still in effect, granting any prospector rights to mine anywhere on federal land. Although this old law has been proposed for changes in both 2007 and 2009 with the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act, neither Republicans or Democrats want to reform this old act. And no Arizona politician has brought this up for the upcoming November election. This amendent would make a 2% to 5% tax mandatory and mining companies are balking.
According to the Arizona Copper Corporation Executive Summary, it sees no problem with drilling here. The summary claims
Since the discovery in 2007, four zones of primary copper with associated silver and gold mineralization
have been outlined utilizing prospecting, geological mapping, and I.P. ground geophysics. Each of these
zones measures approximately 1 mile in diameter. The geological model of the Bear Canyon project is a
classic buried porphyry, protected from erosion, at an indicated depth of 150 metres. Many factors
related to the Bear Canyon project indicate that it offers a highly prospective target for copper-silver
mineralization. These factors include the mining history of the district as well as tonnage and grade
potential as indicated by recent exploration.
A Phase I diamond drilling programme is planned for the spring of 2010. Permitting has been started for
an initial 8 holes with an initial target depth of 250-400 metres each. Following the planned drill
program, further geophysics, prospecting, additional work on other targets, along with continued drilling
will proceed.
These claims most likely come from the company's "Review of Technical Information and Proposed Exploration Program for the Bear Canyon Property," authored by geologist Carl von Einsiedel who writes, "there are no known existing environmental liabilities to which the property is subject" and adds "there are numerous small streams within the claim area that would easily provide sufficient water for exploration purposes" of which one is Bear Creek, although it is not mentioned by name in the review. Bear Creek is the only reliable creek in the area; the others are seasonal. This would put the strain on Bear Creek alone. Copper and Sycamore creeks are nearby, but water from those creeks would have to be piped in.
We decided to walk around this disputed area and see the area before this beautiful canyon potentially gets torn up. We took all three dogs with us since we weren't planning on hiking for long. This was an "exploratory hike."
As expected, we met no other hikers but we did come across Mexican trash. I picked up all the plastic bottles I could on our return hike down Wakefield Mine trail.
There are several ATV and forest roads that border the area the Arizona Copper Corp wants to lease. Forest Road 4772 is the main road off Forest Road 61 which skirts the Huachuca Mountains and the border. The other road is FR4772 to its eastern boundary. Everything between these two roads will soon be drilled for copper and if enough is found there, the AZCopperCorp will rip this land open for their own profits, polluting the beautiful Bear Creek drainage that we've enjoyed hiking along in the fall. This Bear Creek is known for its raptors and other wildlife, and is used by nearby cattle, both US and Mexican. Because the creek flows south into Mexico the company is not concerned with environmental damages, although the creek is part of the Bear Creek riparian restoration project and Bear Creek is part of the San Pedro River watershed, the last remaining free-flowing "river" in Arizona. (This river flows into the Gila River in eastern-central Arizona.)
There is no such thing as an unpolluted river once mining operations are used for the water; the vast majority of Super Fund sites are caused by mining companies, chemical plants and military bases (jet and vehicular fuels) that have long ago declared bankruptcy to avoid paying any damages. According to the latest National Priorities List for Super Fund sites, there were 1279 such sites registered. Arizona belongs to Region 9, the Pacific southwest, the same region in which California, Nevada and Hawaii also belong. Cochise County here already has a Superfund Site thanks to the Apache Power Company, a nitrogen plant, southeast of Benson, which also is located on the San Pedro river.
So what about the water in Bear Creek? The Clean Water Act of 1972 covers only "regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States" but not discharges into Canada or Mexico. The CWA also makes it "unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters...unless a permit is obtained."
Because Bear Creek is the first canyon that illegals entering the US from this area see, this area also receives a heavy litter problem. The US Border Patrol frequents this area to catch drug smugglers coming across, so there are dangers to having any sort of long-term operation here. Would the AZCopperCorp help with the clean-up of the surrounding litter?
And who will be charged with clearing the trees and grading the roads? Will local taxes be raised to support a foreign company's operation? And what about the alleged Upper San Pedro District? This district is being proposed on the next election ballot to "implement measures to conserve, reuse, recharge and augment water within the San Pedro River's Sierra Vista Subwatershed with the goal of maintaining the conditions needed to sustain the Upper San Pedro River and to assist in meeting the water supply needs and water conservation requirements for Fort Huachuca and the communities within the district."
Bear Creek where we wandered around is studded with oaks, alligator junipers, agaves, sotols and mesquites. One can see the northern Sierra Madres from here. Back in the 1880s this area was already mined with the Wakefield mine, and that mine still remains, left open for anyone to explore.
Just because the Arizona Copper Corp has the right to explore for ore here doesn't guarantee that the company will get the right to mine for it later. So we'll see. I personally see too many loopholes and too many issues with water availability and water quality for this company to take over the southern Huachucas.
http://azcoppercorp.com/
http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/7508188dd3c99a2a8825742600743735/510f2916dad8646e88257007005e9402!OpenDocument
