In a lawsuit filed February 7th 2010 against the US Forest Service, a coalition of conservation and business groups has asked a federal district court to halt the agency’s violation of the law in its preparation of an environmental impact statement for the proposed Rosemont Mine in southeast Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains The draft impact statement is expected to be published this month.

Copper used in everything from hybrid vehicles to computers is the mineral everyone seems to want and multiple new mine projects have been proposed or are at different stages of development in the area.

A November 2009 report from Arizona State University concluded that the Rosemont Mine would stimulate a total of USD 15 billion in new economic output for the region over the life of the mine including an average of 2,100 jobs annually.

According to Rosemont Copper, the project is expected to yield 221 million pounds of copper annually and approximately 15,000 ounces of gold as a by product over the mine’s 20 year life span.

(Sourced from www.suite101.com)