Opponents place lien on state land bought by Hudbay Minerals south of Tucson

The lien amounts to a legal cloud, preventing the land from being used while a lawsuit by Save the Scenic Santa Ritas to overturn the land sale is pending, said John Dougherty, the group's director. The group placed the lien at the Pima County Recorder's Office.

Hudbay has said it's buying the land so it can leave other land it owns farther north as an undeveloped buffer between its property and the neighboring Corona de Tucson subdivisions. The 160 acres would be used to store and dispose of mine tailings.

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas said the 160 acres gives Hudbay a better connection between its main mine property to the south and other lands on which it would put tailings to the northeast. The group has filed two lawsuits alleging the land sale, approved at public auction on April 29, violates several state laws and the state Constitution.

The suits allege improper public notice of the time and place of the sale by the State Land Department and that the department significantly undervalued the sale parcel.

Hudbay and the land department haven't commented on the lawsuits' allegations. Hudbay has also not commented on the lien placed on its new property. The company has, however, denounced the lawsuit as a "chimera" that's wasting the money of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas' supporters.