Group Wins Battle With Chino Mine

July 2, 2008

The Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) has won its five-year fight against Chino Mine’s proposal to dilute contaminated water with clean groundwater rather than use more effective treatment technology. The environmental group announced today that it had reached a settlement with the mine under which Chino will use an advanced form of reverse osmosis to remove metals and sulfates from the wastewater it will produce for hundreds of years after mining stops at the site.

“After five years of legal wrangling, this is an enormous victory for the residents of Grant County,” GRIP president Sally Smith said. “After committing to this new technology, it is unlikely that Chino Mines will ever return to its irresponsible and unsustainable plan to waste nearly 9000 acre-feet per year of clean drinking water. This adds up to an annual savings of three times the amount of water Silver City uses each year. In an arid state like New Mexico, we must do our utmost to conserve our valuable groundwater resources. Freeport-McMoRan is no exception.”

Freeport McMoRan is the parent company of the Chino Mine, having completed acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corporation in March 2007.

In exchange for Chino’s commitment to use the new water treatment technology, GRIP has agreed to withdraw its appeal of the mine’s closure plan, which was approved by the state in 2003. GRIP had appealed to the Water Quality Control Commission both the dilution plan and the mine’s proposal to leave unreclaimed several hundred acres of waste rock side slopes around the open pit.

“This is the best use of GRIP’s limited resources,” said GRIP Executive Director Allyson Siwik. “Eliminating dilution was our top priority. Reclaiming the outslopes of the piles nearest the pit is important, and we believe it would be the responsible thing for Chino to do, but saving up to 9,000 acre-feet of water per year represents the biggest bang for the buck.”

“We had to ask ourselves how much longer we could spend our supporters’ donations on technical and legal hearings in Santa Fe,” Smith added. “Freeport has enough money to drag our appeal out for several more years, so when they offered to settle in advance of yet another round of hearings, we took the proposal seriously.”

Both GRIP and Freeport-McMoRan are bound by the settlement for 10 years. Beyond that period, the mine would be free to propose other water treatment options and GRIP would have the right to oppose any unreclaimed waste rock piles still included in the mine’s closure plan. “We believe that now that the mine has acknowledged that advanced water treatment is technically feasible at Chino, it will be very difficult for them to convince the state to accept dilution again,” said Smith.

The Santa Fe-based nonprofit law firm, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, filed an appeal on behalf of GRIP in August 2003. At that time Chino was owned by Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge Corporation. GRIP’s appeal and related permit conditions forced the company to reassess its dilution proposal. As the legal process unfolded, the company developed and tested a water treatment technology that would remove enough heavy metals and sulfates from pit water and runoff to meet water quality standards. After two years of design and testing by Chino, the results of which were reviewed by GRIP and the New Mexico Environment Department, Chino’s new water treatment proposal appears capable of eliminating dilution while achieving water quality standards for discharges of treated water. Under the settlement agreement, this new water treatment proposal will be included in the five-year renewal of Chino Mine’s closure permit that is scheduled to be approved this year.

“We applaud the mine’s research and development efforts,” said GRIP Director Siwik. “Our technical consultant proposed this kind of technology five years ago, but only with Chino’s expertise and commitment could it be adapted to the specific chemistry of the Santa Rita pit and surrounding area.”

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