Location of Copper World and Rosemont

Hudbay seems dead set on exploiting both sides of the mountains, as shown in this map. Here is a link to an excellent article by Tony Davis of the AZ Daily Star, warehoused by Rosemont Mine Truth, that describes their plans in detail. 

The below info draws from Hudbay’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), released on June 8, 2022, after the 9th Circuit had affirmed the ban on Hudbay dumping waste rock and toxic tailings willy-nilly on Forest Service land.

According to the PEA, Hudbay has rolled the Rosemont project into a bigger 44-year plan that projects first mining the relatively small amount of copper on the west-side Copper World part of the project, and then turning to the much richer deposits on the east side, where they will complete what used to be called the Rosemont, but on an even bigger scale.

Here’s language from Hudbay’s Preliminary Economic Report, released in 2022, that lays out their plan in detail:

“This Technical Report presents the results of a preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) of Hudbay’s 100%-owned Copper World Complex in Arizona, which includes the recently discovered Copper World deposits along with the Rosemont deposit (collectively, the “Project”). The Copper World deposits consist of seven deposits, including Bolsa, Broad Top Butte, West (formerly referred to as Copper World), Peach, Elgin, South Limb and North Limb, and are referred to collectively in this Technical Report as “Copper World”. The Rosemont deposit has been renamed the “East” deposit and is referred to as such throughout this Technical Report, unless the historical context requires otherwise.”

When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in May, 2022 determined that Hudbay couldn’t dump Rosemont tailings willy-nilly on any nearby Forest Service land, Hudbay rolled the Rosemont project into this large “Copper World + Rosemont” project. Their plan is to first mine the west side, where they have purchased ranches where they will dump their waste rock and processed tailings. Of course, the court decision doesn’t restrict their dumping on private land. It’s not clear at this point exactly where east-side Rosemont tailings would be put, perhaps in the pits dug in west-side Copper World.

Tables 1-7 and 1-9 in the PEA show Hudbay anticipates starting to mine the Rosemont Pit in year 3 of their 44-year plan, and that by year 6 they will be mining more ore on the Rosemont side than on ease-side Copper World. They project stopping production on the east side by year 16, presumably because the relatively shallow deposits there will be played out. Table 1-9 shows that mining of the Rosemont side will continue until year 44, at which point they will be mining more than 150 million tons per year, 6 times the Rosemont yield in Year 6.