Wildcat Silver Corporation has submitted a proposal to start drilling on public land near Patagonia. Did you know that the Arizona Trail is along parts of Harshaw Road where the mining truck traffic will travel? A minimum of 10 heavy weight semi-trucks per hour will drive through Patagonia. These trucks will be carrying cyanide, diesel fuel, sulfuric acid & blasting materials including ammonium nitrate. A spill of any of these truckloads in the Patagonia watershed would be environmentally catastrophic. This mine will change Patagonia as we know it! Trucks will be coming through town, by the Post Office, 24 hours a day & 7 days a week for the life of the mine, which is proposed to be 15 years.
Please review the documents below and write your scoping comments by JUNE 28, 2011! Email your scoping comments to: rahern (at) fs.fed.us
Scoping Notice:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/documents/WSscopingnotice.pdf
Plan of Operation:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/documents/WCSHardshellPoO2011.pdf
Please state “Arizona Minerals Exploration NEPA” in the subject line.
Remember, scoping comments raise issues of environmental concerns involving:
Air & Water Quality
Wildlife & Vegetation Impacts
Hazardous Substances
Road & Traffic Concerns
Soil Impacts
Noise & Lighting Issues
Please put forward your concerns about how this drilling project may affect where you live, work, or play.
Did you know that the Arizona Trail is along parts of Harshaw Road where the truck traffic will travel? This proposal is at the top of our town watershed. Do you live, work, or play near the Harshaw Creek/Sonoita Creek watershed?
Please contact the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) for more information on the NEPA process and writing relevant scoping comments. We are here to help. We have until JUNE 28,2011 to submit our comments. We need to submit as many as we can!
What’s the Hermosa Project?
Canadian-based Wildcat Silver is currently doing exploratory drilling just south of Patagonia. Their plan is to have an open pit mine & processing plant for mainly silver & manganese.
The open pit will be at least 600 feet deep (the height of a 60 story building), 107 acres & potentially, put waste rock/tailings on up to 2,800 acres of surrounding national forest. On average, the mine would use at least 1/2 million gallons of water per day. A minimum of 10 heavy weight semi-trucks per hour will drive through Patagonia. These trucks will be carrying cyanide, diesel fuel, sulfuric acid & blasting materials including ammonium nitrate. A spill of any of these truckloads in our watershed would be environmentally catastrophic.
This mine will change Patagonia as we know it!
Trucks will be coming through town, by the Post Office, 24 hours a day & 7 days a week for the life of the mine, which is proposed to be 15 years.
Air quality will be negatively affected by the mining/blasting activity, burning of sulfur by the processing plant & the dust from the truck traffic.
24 hour mining activity will cause noise & light pollution with additional losses of wildlife and human habitat.
Recreational activities such as camping, birding, hunting, biking, & hiking on our public lands in the Patagonia Mountains will be contending with mine activity & truck traffic along Harshaw & Forest roads 49 & 58.
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