There is a new player in town, with the ability to do investigative reporting and the web site for the organization is as follows:   http://www.investigativemedia.com/

Last night I had the honor of attending the premiere opening of a documentary they produced. The name of the documentary was “Cyanide Beach” and dealt with an open pit gold mine in Sardinia, Italy , near the small farming town of Furtei.

Photo courtesy of investigativemedia

photo from “Cyanide Beach”

A link on the primary website connects the executives of the corporation known as “Augusta Resources” to the disaster of the gold mine in Italy, same players just a different playing field. Now it is the Augusta Resources power-play in relation to the proposed open pit copper mine in the Santa Rita mountains of the Coronado national Forest .

The main website contains other information, which should be mandatory reading for any Arizona resident that wishes to be informed concerning the Rosemont copper mine proposal.

Welcome “The Other Side of the Coin,” a discussion blog for opposing views concerning some southern Arizona issues and developments. Many times in life “we flip a coin to make a decision” but in this circumstance the term is not used to determine the outcome of the situation by luck. It’s to present to you “the Southern Arizona residents” the alternatives to statements presented by others, those alternatives consisting of verifiable facts and data.

An example of an important issue that concerns many people in southern Arizona is the proposed “open pit copper mine in the Santa Rita mountains.”

One of the latest articles concerning Rosemont copper portrays the local residents and landowners as rabble-rousers exaggerating the effects of the proposed open pit mine. The other side of the coin would be the residents endeavoring to educate and disseminate information to the general public.

One example of that information would be the amount of acreage placed under non-patented mining claims. One side of the coin is Rosemont’s statement they will require approximately 4000 acres of national forest for tailings and waste rock. The other side of the coin is Rosemont copper has placed approximately 14,000 acres of non-patented mining claims in the Coronado national Forest. 14,000 acres is approximately 20 square miles of national forest that is supposed to be under the protection of  The National Forest Service.

The second issue for this article concerns water use , Rosemont is quite willing and proud to discuss the “CAP water recharge in the Tucson AMA ” , the other side of the coin deals with the water used on the East side of the Santa Rita Mountains where the pit will be located. If Rosemont copper is granted permits to develop the open pit mine there will be a factor involved called pit dewatering which involves pumping the water out of the pit that seeps in through the walls. It has been estimated by Rosemont studies as  500 gallons per minute as the amount. The proposed Rosemont open pit mine sits in the Cienega Aquifer which is supposed to be a protected water source.

Some are quite proud of a legal document protecting approximately 100 homeowners in the Sahuarita area but that document does nothing to protect the people who are closest to the proposed mine. It also does nothing to mitigate the loss of water in the Davidson Canyon.

Those examples should be enough to illustrate the function of “The Other Side of the Coin.” Welcome to the blog, its biggest function is not to educate or propagandize but its major function is to get you the residents of southern Arizona to explore, ask questions and make your own decisions.