PHOENIX, March 9, 2017 — For Immediate Release.
Tonto National Forest officials will conduct two public workshops in March to collect information on what the public deems important with regard to mine tailings as the Forest Service analyzes alternate locations for Resolution Copper’s proposed tailings facility.
Resolution Copper’s General Plan of Operations for a large-scale copper mine near Superior, Arizona, proposes that tailings -- the waste material left over after processing -- be pumped as a slurry to a tailings disposal facility located on national forest land between the towns of Queen Valley and Superior. The tailings facility would grow in phases, and eventually occupy about 4,400 acres (including associated structures) of national forest land.
The first workshop is scheduled to take place March 21 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Superior High School located at 100 Mary Drive in Superior, Arizona.
The second session is scheduled to occur March 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Gilbert Southeast Regional Library located at 775 N. Greenfield Road in Gilbert, Arizona.
According to Forest Service Project Manager Mary Rasmussen, the workshops are not intended as a ‘vote’ for any specific alternate tailings location.
Instead, using given workshop criteria, the sessions will allow attendees to provide feedback on what they feel are the most important variables to consider for a tailings location. This feedback will give the Forest Service a means for evaluating alternate tailings locations using stakeholder derived interests and values.
A meeting reminder and related EIS information is available online at the project website.