Key Accomplishments

In late 2011, Wildcat Silver, a Canadian exploratory company announced its intention to return mining activity to the Patagonia Mountains. As a result, six local citizens formed Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) which was incorporated in April 2012 and received official IRS 501-C-3 designation in November 2013. Early resistance efforts were numerous in the first decade of PARA’s existence including defeat of a Forest Service permit for exploratory drilling, the company abandonment of an open pit mine plan, influencing the permit for the first water treatment plant (changed from passive to active and cost increased from $3 million to $30 million).

In mid-2018, the Australian mining company South32 purchased the Hermosa project. From purchase through the end of 2019, South32 met its obligation to remediate the toxic tailings left by ASARCO following the company’s bankruptcy and abandonment of the mine project. The remediation of tailings obligation was created when the former project owner (Wildcat) purchased the 300 acre site from the State of AZ for $10 and the promise to remediate the toxic tailings.

Because it was operating on “private” land, the mining company did not need any federal permits to proceed with its site development to support future underground lateral drilling removal of ore. In 2021, the AZ Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued an amended Aquifer Protection Permit to treat and discharge daily up to 6.48 million gallons of water per day into the Harshaw Creek. PARA filed an Appeal of the permit; the Appeal was heard in January of 2022 and resulted in the Administrative Law Judge rubber-stamping the agency’s decision. PARA filed an Appeal in AZ State Superior Court. No Court decision as of early December 2024.

In 2023, PARA filed an Appeal of ADEQ’s issuance of an Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZDPES) permit relative to surface water disturbances. PARA also successfully activated the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to exercise its oversight authority of ADEQ as a state agency responsible for enforcing Clean Water Act Regulations. EPA’s oversight of ADEQ continues today. South32 withdrew its Small Tracts Act request to purchase 14 acres after multiple years of PARA objecting to the Forest Service. PARA and many of our alliance partners filed a federal lawsuit against the Forest Service for issuing exploratory drilling permits to exploratory company Barksdale and to mining company South32. South32 was the first and only mining project admitted to the federal FAST41 program (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation signed by President Obama). This activated the mine company’s responsibility to meet federal regulations.

In 2024, the appeals of the APP permit and the AZPDES permit continues. In addition, PARA also challenged ADEQ’s issuance of an air quality permit. PARA is working with lawyers from two private law firms and also lawyers from two non-profit organizations. PARA until very recently was the only location in all of the United States with a mine project proceeding on private property. The federal lawyers work pro bono; the lawyers working on the state legal actions are not pro bono. Since 2021 through September of 2024, PARA has spent over $422,000 or about 68% of the organization’s annual budget on legal and expert fees.

The well being of the Patagonia Mountains and Sonoita Creek Watershed is tied to our economic prosperity. It is the source of our drinking water, clean air, and the biological wealth that drives our regional nature-based restorative economy. There must be oversight of proposed industrialized mining activity and mining company accountability to the community to avoid short-sighted destruction of our natural resources in pursuit of corporate profits.