If Hudbay Minerals Inc. takes over Augusta Resource Corp., it will inherit far more than a massive copper mine site outside Tucson, a potential for huge production and profits, and an equally massive controversy.
It will face a truckload of legal obligations and commitments to mitigate and compensate for the mine’s environmental impacts. It will also face questions and concerns from the community about how real those commitments are — questions that don’t always have simple answers.
Over the past seven years, Rosemont Copper and its Canadian parent Augusta have promised verbally and in writing to carry out dozens if not hundreds of mitigation measures for the planned Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. Those commitments have mushroomed in number and scale as the mine has inched closer to final federal permitting decisions, which Augusta expects by June but which Hudbay has predicted will take much longer.
Toronto-based Hudbay is nearing the final stages of its Augusta takeover effort. On Friday, it extended the deadline for Augusta shareholders from Wednesday to April 2 to decide whether to accept the takeover bid.