A federal judge has denied a request for a preliminary injunction against the South32 Hermosa Mine Project, which would have temporarily blocked construction of federally approved infrastructure like a power transmission line and primary access road.
In a decision posted Friday, Nov. 6, U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins said his ruling did not resolve all legal claims nor validate every aspect of the project.
According to court documents, Collins found that the plaintiffs had not adequately demonstrated how construction would cause immediate irreparable harm to the area.
“We look forward to advancing Hermosa in a way that reflects the community’s priorities and delivers lasting economic benefits to the region,” Hermosa President Pat Risner said in a press release.
Previously stalled construction will continue as the court considers a lawsuit that was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) in September, challenging the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s approval of the mine’s expansion onto public land.
In July, the Forest Service issued its Final Record of Decision for the Hermosa Mine Project, which completed the National Environmental Policy Act review needed for ancillary infrastructure development on national forest system land.
The environmental groups’ lawsuit also alleges that the Forest Service violated the NEPA review process by failing to provide an adequate analysis of the project’s potential impacts on groundwater and other public resources.
“It’s important that the agencies that are here to protect us, follow the rules if they’re going to be approving these projects,” said Anna Darian, executive director of PARA.
Risner told AZPM that South32 believes that the review process was robust.
“The federal approval improves the environmental profile of the project. It reduces the impacts and activities that the community has been concerned about. It reduces traffic, it improves emissions. Those are all things the community wants and so we have been clear about that over the last few years,” Risner said.
Environmental groups are also arguing that the agencies violated the Endangered Species Act because they failed to properly consider the potential harm on critical habitats for endangered species like jaguars and ocelots.
“It would be difficult to find a place that is more important for threatened and endangered species in North America than right where they’re wanting to expand this mine,” said Graham Rex, one of several attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
The developing mine is located in a historic mining district in the Patagonia Mountains within Southern Arizona’s Sky Island Region, about six miles southeast of Patagonia in Santa Cruz County.
The area is known as a biodiversity hotspot that’s home to numerous threatened and endangered species and about one mile north of the final unwalled stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Rex told AZPM that the project is going to block the last place where those species can cross the border.
Collins’ decision came three days after oral arguments were held on Tuesday, Nov. 3, when more than 20 protesters gathered outside of the Evo DeConcini federal courthouse in Tucson, like Gary Vella.
Vella expressed concern about the potential effects large-scale construction projects could have on jaguars in the region.
“The border area is a critical crossing area for jaguars,” Vella said. “The mines are yet another threat to the survival of species that depend on that habitat in that area.”
The mine’s expansion would develop additional discharge points to distribute water discharge over a broader area in the mountains as well as adding an additional tailings facility to hold mining waste.
South32 is an Australian metals and mining company that looks to produce up to five federally designated critical minerals including zinc, silver and manganese at the Hermosa project. Those minerals are used in clean energy systems, electrical infrastructure and national security supply chains.
Environmental groups say mining operations could affect 52,000 acres of public land in the Coronado National Forest. South32, however, says that its Mine Plan of Operations identifies a 750-acre disturbance area across both private and public land.
Construction on private land is half-way complete. Underground zinc production is expected to start late next year.
