Tucson air quality may be affected by huge new mine

By Dave Degroot

A new open pit mine is being planned in the northern Santa Rita Mountains by the multinational Hudbay Minerals Corporation of Toronto, Canada. A final step in the approval process for the huge mine will probably begin in August, 2024. 

The location of this new mine can already be seen from across the Tucson basin. When it is fully approved, it will produce massive craters in the mountains, dust clouds, exhaust fumes, mountains of waste material, and microscopic particles in the air – all within a few miles of schools and established housing developments southwest of Vail, Arizona.  

Opponents of the mine worry about slipshod planning on Hudbay’s part. 

In an open letter to Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Jeremy Nichols of the national Center for Biological Diversity (a respected organization with offices in nine states and Mexico,) wrote that Hudbay is engaging in what could be called unrealistic, wishful thinking in saying that it can operate safely.  

“Although [Hudbay’s] fogging sprays, scrubbers, and dust collectors can achieve high control efficiencies, it is unreasonable [for them to say] they will achieve a 99% control efficiency at all times during the life of the proposed mine.”

The Center for Biological Diversity also said Hudbay is “significantly underestimating” the planned mine’s output of toxic particles: “the potential could be more than double what Hudbay is currently estimating.”

For these reasons, the Center for Biological Diversity states that Hudbay should be held to STRICTER standards than what it is asking for. Hudbay wants to be called a “Class 2” operation but the Center for Biological Diversity says that in reality it will be a more dangerous “Class 1” operation. 

PLEASE write our elected officials. Many voices CAN make a difference, but if the officials don’t hear from us, it is likely that Hudbay will get everything it wants.

US Senators and Representatives

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Arizona Governor