Preserving the San Rafael Watershed in Southern Arizona
Preserving the San Rafael Watershed in Southern Arizona
Trench Mine workers c. 1940s - Photo courtesy of the Patagonia Museum
Mining is not new to the Patagonia Mountains, but what is new is “Industrialized Mining”. Anyone who lives in the Patagonia Mountains or has explored the area for birding, hiking, hunting, or any of the other multiple uses for Forest Service land, has encountered some of the scars that remain from historical underground mining. Time has healed some of the scars, but many mine openings, acid mine water and tailing piles devoid of any plant life still mar portions of the area.
Since the 1970s several companies have done exploratory mining on private and public property in various parts of the Patagonia Mountains. With technological advances in industrialized mining, ore deposits that were previously labeled “not economically feasible” are now of interest to international mining companies.
Under the 1872 Mining Act, a citizen of the United States or a United States corporation may stake mining claims on those public lands that are open for mining location.
The claim holder:
As a result mining companies, including international companies that form a subsidiary United States corporation, now have mining claims on over 86 square miles of public land in the Patagonia Mountains and upper San Rafael Valley. For comparison, 86 square miles of mining claims is an area more than 66 times larger than the Town of Patagonia, Arizona.
Barksdale Resources Corporation (Barksdale) a Canadian based junior exploratory mining company, has acquired unpatented mining claims on Forest Service land for their projects. Their total unpatented mining claims cover almost 33 square miles or an area 25 times the size of the Town of Patagonia, AZ.
Barksdale’s projects are:
In 2019, Barksdale submitted exploratory drilling proposals to Forest Service for the Sunnyside and San Antonio Projects.
South 32, an Australian mining company operating in Arizona as Arizona Minerals Inc., is currently developing plans for an underground mine, the Hermosa Project, in the Harshaw area of the Patagonia Mountains. The proposed underground mine is located on their private property and is therefore not subject to the same Forest Service permitting and review process as mines proposed on public lands. In addition to its private property, South 32 has mining claims on approximately 53 square miles of Forest Service land in the Patagonia Mountains an area over 40 times larger than the Town of Patagonia, AZ.
If today’s industrialized mining is allowed to occur without reasonable constraints and monitoring, the impact to all other users of the Patagonia Mountains will be devastating. The riparian habitat along the Santa Cruz River may disappear, caused by lower ground water levels as the mines deplete the aquifer. If mining is allowed to expand from its current footprint to encompass the length of the Patagonia Mountains it will disproportionately consume resources and negatively impact all other residents and users.
Responsible mining must be limited to a specific area where the effects on the watershed, wildlife, hunters, residents and all other users can be monitored. If mining is proven to be sustainable and ground water and users aren’t negatively impacted and reclamation is completed as planned, then a request to move on to a new site could be considered. What must not be allowed to happen is the random expansion of new mines before we fully understand the consequences of existing activity and the cumulative impacts of various mining operations.
Although mining may bring short-term gains to the local economy, the cumulative long term effects of multiple mining operations will change the very nature of the San Rafael Valley Watershed and the surrounding communities.
Copyright © 2022 A Land in Balance - All Rights Reserved.