Feds deal another setback to Rosemont mine by upholding jaguar habitat

[Ptah]

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators on Friday rejected a mining company’s request to reduce critical habitat for endangered jaguars in the Santa Rita Mountains on land that overlaps the footprint of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine.

The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the latest setback for Hudbay Minerals Inc., which has been working for more than a decade to get permission to open the mine that it says could create thousands of jobs and bring billions in economic development to the region.

But opponents welcomed the decision, saying the mine threatens not just the jaguar but the area’s drinking water supply.

“The people of Tucson have shown very clearly that they value jaguars and their water security more than they value this foreign company coming in here to put an open-pit copper mine in our mountains,” said Randy Serraglio, the Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2021/09/08/feds-deal-another-setback-to-rosemont-mine-by-upholding-jaguar-habitat