The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, Town of Patagonia and City of Nogales approved a community funding agreement with South32 – the Australian-based mining and metals company that’s operating the Hermosa critical minerals project outside of the town of Patagonia.
The mine looks to source two federally designated critical minerals: zinc and manganese.
Santa Cruz County officials say that the agreement is based on an analysis conducted by the University of Arizona and local focus groups that identified service gaps throughout the county.
South32 will make mutually-agreed-upon investments across five broad categories throughout the county such as emergency services, community healthcare, education, eco-tourism and affordable housing.
“The agreement focuses on early action investments that address immediate community needs while the larger process continues,” said Chris Young, Deputy Santa Cruz County Manager during Wednesday’s Supervisors meeting.
That larger process is the legally-binding Community Protection and Benefits Agreement that is being negotiated among the aforementioned signatories.
“That is a vehicle to put additional protections in place above and beyond what the law, the regulatory scheme, rural groundwater policy, provides,” says Pat Risner, Hermosa Project President.
Anna Darian, executive director of the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance said that it is important for that agreement to be executed in a way that boosts Patagonia’s economy.
“We just need much more accountability on the terms of this agreement because there’s a lot of trust being put on a very small number of people across the town, county and city of Nogales to speak on behalf of the entire community,” she said.
In Nogales, Mayor Jorge Maldonado and Council discussed details of the early-actions agreement behind closed doors during executive session on Wednesday, before approving it.
There were no publicly available materials on how much exactly the city could receive nor prioritized areas for investment identified during that meeting.
During the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors meeting however, Young said that Nogales could expect funding to support community health services and other county-specific areas that would also benefit Patagonia.
The agreement identifies the opportunity for reimbursement for Nogales' sewer and water engineering study.
In Patagonia, it was reported that the town could receive up to $2.3 million for projects to be invested in over the next 12 months.
Nogales, Patagonia and Santa Cruz County coincidentally hosted simultaneous meetings on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the Coronado National Forest announced the publication of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Hermosa Project, initiating a 45-day objection period.
Darian said, “Patagonia Area Resource Alliance is reviewing the US Forest Service's Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Hermosa Project with our technical team and will respond accordingly. We remain committed to holding public agencies accountable for protecting the health of our community and the integrity of this unique ecosystem.”
In a press release, the Forest Service said, “This project directly supports U.S. energy and security needs and advances Executive Orders 14154 Unleashing American Energy, 14156 Declaring a National Energy Emergency, and 14241 Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, reinforcing the administration’s commitment to securing critical mineral supply chains.”
