A company with ties to Rosemont Copper is likely to start conducting exploratory drilling on federal land outside Patagonia by the end of the year now that the Forest Service has approved its plans.
Arizona Minerals Inc., a subsidiary of Wildcat Silver Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, which shares some board members and an address with Rosemont parent Augusta Resource Corp., can drill 15 test holes up to 2,000 feet deep for 11 months for the Hermosa mine, formerly known as the Hardshell mine.
The drilling will determine how rich a silver deposit exists in the Patagonia Mountains about six miles southeast of the tourist-oriented town of 915 people.
The company's CEO, Chris Jones, said he expects that drilling on federal land will find more mineral deposits on top of what the company has already learned from drilling on adjoining private land.
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"We think it's positive - being allowed to drill on the forest surface to explore our mineral rights is a good thing," Jones said.
Mine opponents, including a Santa Cruz County supervisor, were not happy at the decision - particularly because the U.S. Forest Service didn't require an environmental assessment of the drilling that the county supervisors requested in June.
Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman John Maynard said he's concerned that the drilling could let pollutants infiltrate or migrate into the aquifer serving town residents.
Step toward federal permit
Such a drilling plan - one of three in the Patagonia area under consideration on forest land - is typically a step toward applying for a federal permit to mine. The company could request a permit in 12 to 18 months, Jones said.
The two other proposed drilling operations on Forest Service lands in the Patagonia Mountains have been filed by Regal Resources Inc., of Vancouver, and Oz Minerals Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia.
Regal proposes to drill five holes up to 6,500 feet deep at the Sunnyside project, about seven miles south of Patagonia, in search of copper. Oz proposes to drill seven holes up to 3,300 feet deep at the Providencia project, about 10 miles south of Patagonia, also for copper.
The Wildcat Silver drilling operations can run around the clock, and use up to four drill rigs, said Phoebe Patterson, the then-acting ranger with the Forest Service's Sierra Vista Ranger District, in a memo last month announcing the approval. She has since left the Forest Service. About 3,900 feet of temporary-access roads will be built on forest land, and the company may conduct maintenance activities on another 7,500 feet of forest roads.
The company will use pickup trucks up to a ton in size, 1,000- to 4,500-gallon water trucks, bulldozers, motor graders, wood chippers, an air-compressor booster truck, and service and fuel trucks. Pickup trucks would be coming to the drill sites 10 to 25 times daily, water trucks would arrive four to 15 times daily and drilling-rig trucks would arrive every two to 35 days, the drilling plan said.
About 120 million ounces of silver had been found in private land drilling before this year, said Wildcat Silver's Jones. This year, the company has drilled nine months on adjoining private land and is totaling how much additional silver it discovered.
The drilling on forest land should help officials determine the total amount of silver and how much can be economically recovered, Jones said. The drilling starts once the Forest Service issues conditions for the project and determines how much of a bond the company must post to assure reclamation of drill holes.
Wildcat Silver's board has four members associated with Augusta Resource Corp., the Vancouver company whose subsidiary Rosemont Copper proposes the Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. The silver company also shares a Vancouver address with Augusta.
Company assurances
Supervisor Maynard, whose district includes Patagonia, said the Forest Service should have evaluated the drilling's potential impacts on the town's watershed. Historically, he said, mining in Patagonia has damaged groundwater, with high mineral content proving difficult to remove.
In her decision, the Forest Service's Patterson said that because analysis by "resource specialists" found the drilling won't affect any resources, she concluded that an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement weren't necessary.
But Patagonia Town Manager David Teel noted that Patterson's decision said an interdisciplinary team of resource specialists concluded there were no municipal watersheds present in the drilling area - which Teel said isn't accurate.
"There certainly is a watershed there - the Harshaw Creek watershed provides the town with part of its potable water supply."
Teel, however, added that the drilling will overall probably not be a very big deal environmentally. But if they start mining, "that will be a very, very big deal. They would use lagoons of cyanide and sulfuric acid for the purposes of extracting minerals from ore."
Forest Service officials weren't available for comment. Wildcat Silver's plan, however, says that its drilling materials aren't toxic. The company also promises to use water from trucks to keep dust generated from mine-truck traffic to a minimum, and to use a system to capture dust from drilling.
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"There certainly is a watershed there - the Harshaw Creek watershed provides the town with part of its potable water supply."
David Teel, Patagonia town manager, refuting conclusion of resource specialists
Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@azstarnet.com or 806-7746.