What will Rosemont Copper do to protect water resources?
The process of mining does require water, but conservation is a key consideration in planning. We will do everything possible to conserve water. In fact, we plan to make a significant investment to utilize dry-tailings processing, which is used by other mines in desert areas around the world. This process requires more capital investment in equipment, but will recapture water sooner for reuse, and will allow Rosemont Copper to conserve water by eliminating evaporation from large tailing ponds. Rosemont Copper will use recycled water from a closed-loop mine water system to be developed and maintained on the site; however, there will still be consumption and evaporative loss from this water system that will need to be replaced. Rosemont Copper has contracts with the Central Arizona Project to purchase 10,000 acre-feet of water per year for five years beginning in 2007. By the end of 2008, Rosemont Copper had already banked 30,000 acre feet of water within the Tucson Active Management Are
