Other Mining Claims in the San Rafael Valley Watershed

Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is the second largest mining company in the world with joint headquarters in London, United Kingdom and Melbourne, Australia. Their United States’ subsidiary, Kennecott Exploration, has staked unpatented mining claims on Forest Service land in the northern portion of the San Rafael Valley, locally known as Meadow Valley, the Canelo Hills, and the Santa Rita Mountains.

In 2018 Kennecott conducted an airborne geophysical survey covering approximately 200 square miles in Santa Cruz County including the Patagonia Mountains, Canelo Hills and Santa Rita Mountains. Kennecott described this activity “as part of early-stage exploration efforts to better understand the geology of the area”.

As of April 2020 no further activities have been reported. It should be noted that surface exploration; such as, the airborne geophysical survey that does not disturb the ground surface does not require Forest Surface approval.

MinQuest

MinQuest a Nevada based exploratory mining company has 46 active unpatented mining claims on approximately 900 acres of Forest Service land encompassing about 1.5 square miles. The mining claims are located at the southernmost end of the Patagonia Mountains, near the Mexican Border, south of the ghost town of Duquesne and east of Mt Washington.

As of April 2020 MinQuest has not reported any proposed plans for these claims.