Tonto Forest to Offer Online Opportunity for Public Viewpoints On Proposed Copper Mine Tailings Facility

PHOENIX, March 21, 2017 — For Immediate Release.
The Tonto National Forest will host two public workshops – March 21 in Superior, Arizona, and March 22 in Gilbert, Arizona -- 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.

For individuals unable to attend, there also will be an opportunity to participate in an online workshop. The online workshop will be available beginning March 23 and continue through April 5, 2017, on the project website.

The site’s home page will have information and links directing visitors to the online workshop. Participants will be able to view a video of the workshop presentation and the slide show presentation that provides a project update. Online participants also will be able to answer the same series of questions about social and environmental values related to alternative locations for the tailings storage facility.

Both the in-person and online workshops will allow the public to provide feedback on what they feel are the most important variables to consider for the tailings location. This feedback will give the Forest Service a means to evaluate alternative tailings locations using interests and values provided to the agency by the public.

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.

Source: 

Media Point of Contact

Susan Blake
susan.blake@usda.gov

Apache Leap Special Management Area
Apache Leap SMA website