The 25-minute film chronicles how the same Canadian mining speculators who are now seeking government permits to build the Rosemont copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson, Arizona, left behind a trail of unpaid vendors, a misspent government loan, hidden investors, and a toxic mess known to locals as Cyanide Beach after owning and operating an open-pit gold mine in Sardinia, Italy from 2003-07.

Since its Aug. 23 debut at the Crossroads Theater in Tucson, Cyanide Beach has been shown more than a dozen times to audiences in Tucson, Green Valley, Tubac, Patagonia, Vail and Phoenix. Green Valley (AZ) News Editor Dan Shearer said the film “raise(s) questions that Rosemont must address if it intends to move forward with integrity.”

Vancouver, B.C.-based Augusta Resource Corporation owns the Rosemont Copper Company. The film documents the deceptive business tactics of Augusta’s top executives when they ran another Canadian junior mining company, Sargold Resource Corporation, which owned and operated the Sardinian mine.

Six of Sargold’s former directors have, or are now playing, a leading role in Rosemont Copper Company’s free-spending lobbying and PR campaign to win public support for blasting a mile-wide, half-mile deep hole in the Santa Rita Mountains and dumping 70-story high mountains of toxic mining waste on more than 3,000 acres of the Coronado National Forest.

Earthworks, a Washington, D.C. watchdog group that tracks mining on America’s public lands, is assisting InvestigativeMEDIA in releasing Cyanide Beach nationally.

“We already know that the Rosemont Mine would threaten the air and groundwater in and around Tucson with mercury, lead, arsenic and other poisons from its billions of tons of toxic mine waste,” said Lauren Pagel, Earthworks’ Policy Director. “That threat is magnified when we find out that the people behind Rosemont Copper have such a checkered business history.”

Cyanide Beach is based on Dougherty’s review of thousands of pages of financial documents involving Augusta’s officers and his on-site interviews in Italy, the U.S. and Canada. Dougherty uncovers a tangled history of cease trade orders, an insider trading settlement agreement, an investment caution warning issued by Canadian regulators, stock exchange de-listings, personal and corporate bankruptcies, and false disclosure statements to regulators. The full details can be found at the Rosemont’s Power Play tab at www.investigativemedia.com.

The six current and former Augusta directors who also served on the Sargold board include its Chairman Richard Warke and its President and CEO Gil Clausen, along with directors Robert P. Wares and Christopher M. H. Jennings. Former Augusta directors Donald Clark and Michael A. Steeves also served on the Sargold board.

Cyanide Beach reveals how these speculators conducted operations in Sardinia and raises questions of whether they now can be trusted to deliver on their promises to operate the Rosemont copper mine without depleting local water supplies, harming endangered wildlife, or polluting the surrounding environment. Their actions in Sardinia include:

Failing to pay local contractors, forcing vendors to obtain court judgments;
Misspending a $787,000 Sardinian government loan that was supposed to be used to develop an underground mine;
Issuing misleading press releases to investors, including a release that overstated gold reserves in Sardinia forcing the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange to require the company to retract the projection;
Failing to disclose that a Cayman Islands hedge fund controlled more than 10 percent of Sargold’s stock between 2005 and 2007;
Using its obligation to implement environmental restoration of the Sardinian gold mine as leverage with Sardinian government officials in a failed attempt to gain gold mining rights elsewhere; and
Failing to disclose Mr. Warke’s personal bankruptcy in regulatory filings between 2003 and 2005.

Sargold’s conduct in Sardinia left a lasting impression on its former business partners.

When asked if Richard Warke, Sargold’s point man on the Sardinia project, was a man of his word, Franco Cherchi, a former president of Sargold’s Gold Mines of Sardinia subsidiary, said “When it’s no longer convenient for him, he withdraws the promise.”

I watched this 25 minute video and it is disturbing, and does raise serious questions about Augusta Resources and the proposed Rosemont Mine in Southern AZ. For more info: http://www.investigativemedia.com/special-reports-rosemonts-power-play/

http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/info/calendars

Let me know which ones you find helpful, as I continue to report/blog about community events & people in Tucson. I didn’t hyperlink any of the listings, as the City’s website has done that for us.

Event Calendars
Downtown Tucson Partnership Event Calendar
Zocalo Downtown Event Calendar
Showup.com Art & Culture Calendar
AZStarnet Calendar
Dot Tucson Calendar
Tucson Style Event Calendar
University of Arizona Event Calendar
University of Arizona Sports Calendar
Pima Community College Event Calendars
AZ State Museum
UA Free Classes & Events
Tucson Weekly Calendar

Watch videos about local art:
Sonoran Style – Channel 12
DTown – Channel 12
Arte – Arizona Public Media
Arts and Life – Arizona Public Media

Videos about local music:
Studio C – Channel 12
Music – Arizona Public Media

Sports & Recreation:
Rec365 – Channel 12
Zoo News – Channel 12

Shop Local Businesses
Local First Arizona, Tucson listings
The 3/50 Project – Arizona listings

Attractions & Destinations
Tucson.com Travel
Tucson Attractions

Outdoor Activities
Arizona Parks
Saguaro National Monument
Coronado National Forest
Visit Tucson Day Trips

Food
Tucson Dining Guide
Tucson Originals
Local & Heritage Foods Directory

With all these listings & resources, I’m sure you’ll find something to do. Enjoy Tucson and Southern Arizona!

Tucson, AZ (October 13, 2011) – “The Coronado National Forest will soon be accepting
public comments on the Rosemont Copper Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DEIS) in a variety of formats. The DEIS is available online at
www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado and is expected to be available October 14 at
www.RosemontEIS.us . Mailings began this week. Citizens are encouraged to read the
DEIS before submitting comments. Although comments may be submitted in many
ways, citizens need only provide comments once for them to receive full consideration.
The 90-day comment period is expected to begin on October 22, following publication of
the Environmental Protection Agency’s Notice of Availability of the DEIS in the Federal
Register.
Oral and written comments will be received by the Forest at the following scheduled
public meetings.

–October 22, 2011, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Desert Diamond Conference Center, 1100 W. Pima Mine Rd., Sahuarita, AZ **
–November 5, 2011, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Elgin Elementary School, 23 Elgin Rd., Elgin, AZ (tentative)*
–November 12, 2011, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Palo Verde High School, 1302 S. Avenida Vega, Tucson, AZ
–November 19, 2011, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Empire High School, 10701 E. Mary Ann Cleveland Way, Tucson, AZ
–December 7, 2011, 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Benson High School, 360 S. Patagonia Street, Benson, AZ
–January 7, 2012, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Desert Diamond Conference Center, 1100 W. Pima Mine Rd., Sahuarita, AZ **

Meetings will include informational sessions and comment sessions, during which oral
statements will be recorded. Citizens do not need to be present at any meetings to
comment on the DEIS. Requirements for commenting may be found at 36 Code of
Federal Regulations Part 215.

Oral comments will also be accepted by telephone by calling (888) 654-6646.”

I attended the press conference yesterday where Coronado National Park Supervisor Jim Upchurch spoke about the long process of getting to this point since March 2008, and the issuance of the Draft EIS, after receiving 11,000 public comments. He said they hope to have the final decision on EIS on the Rosemont Mine sometime in 2012, as they can “require reasonable measures to protect the natural resources.” He encouraged public participation/input via the upcoming hearings, by phone, email, or regular mail. Additional public hearings may be considered according to Upchurch.

The coalition group in opposition to the Rosemont mine, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas (SSSR) also held a press conference after Upchurch spoke, and their speakers were Dr.Tom Purdon from Green Valley, Randy Serraglio (Center for Biological Diversity), Gayle Hartmann (SSSR President), Elizabeth Webb (Empire Fagen Coalition), Roger Featherstone (AZ Mining Reform Coalition), Mark Williams (Mountain Empire Action Alliance), Scott Kardel (International Dark Skies Assn.), and rancher Grace Wystrach representing businesses in Santa Cruz County. District 5 Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias also spoke about this being the “wrong place, wrong mine”, and the harm the mine would do to the cultural antiquities of the area as well as tourism. All the speakers spoke of the harmful consequences of Rosemont Copper’s mine to the environment.

website for SSSR: http://www.scenicsantaritas.org/

*Update: Elgin meeting re-scheduled to December 10, same time, same place.
** Both Sahuarita hearings to be rescheduled (10/20/11 notice) due to conflicts with other events

11/12/11 Update: Dec. 1 meeting, 5 to 9 p.m. at Corona Foothills Middle School in Vail added to schedule.

Gordon Hirabayashi as a college student

Here’s a photo of Gordon as a young man in 1942,as a Senior at the University of Washington when he challenged the relocation order of E.O. 9066 & violated the curfew in Seattle. He was turned himself into the F.B.I., was convicted, and appealed all the way to U.S. Supreme Court on constitutional grounds, but his conviction was upheld at that time. (see Hirabayashi vs. U.S. 320 U.S. 81 (1943). Because the Federal Attorney did not want to pay his way to the Federal Prison Camp in the Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona, Hirabayashi hitchhiked from Seattle, saw his family in an internment camp in Idaho, and arrived in Tucson where he had to convince the Federal Marshall to imprison him.

In 1987 his case was re-opened and and overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The National Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (which I as a legislative aide helped U.S. Senator Inouye create) investigated the mass WWII Japanese American internment and determined that it had been caused by “racial prejudice, wartime hysteria & failed political leadership”. President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act in 1988, apologizing for the relocation/internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans, 2/3 of whom were U.S. Citizens, on American soil.

Federal prison camp map

Above is a photo of the map of the Catalina Federal Prison Camp. The prisoners laborers built 24 miles of road (the Catalina Hwy) through Coronado National Forest, completed in 1951. The prisoners housed there were convicted of breaking federal immigration or tax laws, most were conscientious objectors, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hopi Indians and Japanese Americans (about 40) protesting their relocation & draft. Many resisted the draft because their families were at the same time in the 10 large W.R.A. internment camps. (These resisters were later pardoned by President Harry Truman in 1947).

In 1999 the Coronado National Forest named the recreation site after its most famous inmate Gordon Hirabayashi (who later earned a Ph.D in Sociology). Interpretive signs (see photo below) were installed in 2001. See National Forest’s website (click here) for more photos of Dr. Hirabayashi and the prison camp itself, which existed from 1937 to 1973.

Mary Farrell, a Forest Heritage Program Leader & Tribal Liaison for the Coronado National Forest has given lectures at Agua Caliente Park and elsewhere, about this prison camp. Her email is: mfarrell@fs.fed.us, phone 520-388-8391.

During a recent visit my husband and I walked along the paths and riverbed of the former prison camp, trying to imagine the life of the federal prisoners in that remote, but picturesque area. There are numerous concrete slab building platforms and walls still remaining, and stone abutments along the riverbed. It is a somber remembrance of the injustice done to my people (including my father), fitting on Labor Day 2010 (today).

The present site is suitable for picnicking, hiking, camping, mountain biking, bird watching…and reflecting.

tourists reading the interpretive kiost signs at Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site