January has been a good month so far for news articles about mining in Arizona.
On January 2nd, Tony Davis of the Arizona Daily Star wrote two articles. The first, Copper Mining Sees New AZ Momentum, talks about several new dubious proposals to revive old mine projects that should have died a well deserved death years ago including a proposal by Curis Resources (a Canadian junior mining company) to do in-situ copper mining on the banks of the GIla River next to Florence, AZ and a proposal by Bell Copper (another Canadian junior) to do in-situ copper mining directly under the town of Miami! The second article, As Copper Price Booms, ‘Bust’ is a Scary Thought, is a very good analysis of the economic ups and downs (mostly downs) of the current copper boom in Arizona.
The January 2nd Washington Post, has an article written by Kari Lydersen titled Arizona Plan For Largest U.S. Copper Mine Spurs Economic, Environmental Debate, talked about the Oak Flat land exchange and why it is dividing the local community of Superior. While there are several inaccuracies in the article, it still is a good portrayal of the issue.
The January 3rd issue of the Tucson Sentinel carries an Article by Jennifer Johnson of the Cronkite News Service titled Copper Mine Seeks Support by Wielding Checkbook. This article talked about the heavy handed tactics employed by RIo Tinto in trying to quell opposition to the Oak Flat land exchange by buying off the town of Superior, a climbing groups and attempting to buy off several environmental organizations. The webpage also has links to previous articles by Jennifer about the Oak Flat controversy and included a couple of You Tube videos produced by the Cronkite news Service about the issue.