Mine Plan Design

Northern Arizona mining ban expected on Monday

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce Monday a 20-year ban on new mineral exploration and mining in nearly 1 million acres in northern Arizona [outlined in red in figure to right. Credit, BLM] in order to prevent development of one of the richest uranium districts in the country, over concerns of potential impacts on Grand Canyon.

[update: the New York Times included a brief quote from me in their Jan. 7 article]

A news release issued this afternoon said "On Monday, Jan. 9, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will host the premiere of a new short film produced by the National Park Service for viewing by visitors to the Grand Canyon National Park. As part of this event, Secretary Salazar will make an announcement regarding conservation of the Grand Canyon."

The decision comes as no surprise as the Secretary publicly announced his intentions as soon as the draft EIS was issued.

Expect the next steps to be efforts by anti-mining groups to prevent exploration on existing claims.

Rover parked in "Greeley Haven" for the Martian winter

NASA has parked the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity for the next several months at a site informally named "Greeley Haven" with a sun-facing slope to provide more solar power and less solar panel covering dust. The name is a tribute to ASU planetary geologist Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who was a member of the science team for the Mars rovers and many other interplanetary missions. [Right, mosaic from Opportunity, Dec. 2, 2011. Credit, NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU]

Greeley Haven is an informal name for the location on the rim of Endeavor Crater.

[Taken in part from the NASA news release]

Suit against Patagonia silver exploration

A group of environmental organizations is filing suit against Coronado National Forest in an attempt to halt exploration drilling on the Hardshell silver prospect [Right, location map. Credit, Wildcat Silver] by Wildcat Silver subsidiary Arizona Minerals on federal lands near the southern Arizona town of Patagonia.

The groups also want the Forest Service to require a full Environmental Impact Study done before drilling could commence. An EIS is normally only required if an actual mine is proposed to be developed. They claim the exploration area is a corridor for jaguars and ocelots. However, Wildcat rep Greg Lucero is quoted as saying "there has not been a jaguar sighting in the area in a half century, and that there has never been a sighting of an ocelot in the Patagonia Mountains."

Funding decision on UA giant telescope delayed until 2020s

The University of Arizona is part of a university consortium competing to build the next generation telescope, a huge, $1 billion+ 28-meter diameter Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile [right, artists concept of the GMT]. But Science Insider reports that the National Science Foundation, which had been expected to provide most of the funding, has issued a solicitation that says major funding won't be available until the 2020s.

The UA team has competed against a University of California team plan for the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii, for seven years. Under new requirements from Congress, NSF will fund only $1.25 million over 5 years for planning purposes, in the event that funding is made available a decade from now or later.

Global copper outputs and trends since 1770

In 1800, global production of copper was 14,000 tonnes. By 1900, it reached 495,000 tonnes, a 35-fold increase. But by 2000, production hit 13,212,000 tonnes, nearly 1,000 times what it was two centuries ago [right, credit Mining Magazine].

The United Kingdom was the world leader in copper until about 1850. However, in 1900, the US produced over 55% of the world's copper. By 2000, the US was the second largest producer at 11%, far behind Chile at nearly 35%.

These figures come from a richly detailed article in the November 2011 issue of Mining Magazine, entitled "The Copper Conundrum." Author Phillip Crowson looks at world copper production from 1770 and found that "the average percentage yield of copper from mining has tended to decline over the long term, but by no means evenly." Cornish mines in the 1770s mined copper with an average grade of 12.17%. This dropped to 9.27% in 1800; 2.61% in Michigan by 1900; 0.85% worldwide by 2000; and to 0.77% worldwide in 2008.

Crowson warns there are lots of gaps in the data as many companies kept numbers proprietary. There are also widely divergent strategies, company by company, and country by country, in how to produce ore grades under different economic situations.

Still, there is no question that the big, rich, surface deposits of copper have been tapped out. Companies are pursuing deeper or lower grade deposits to meet the phenomenal global demand for this industrial mainstay. For example, the proposed Resolution Copper mine near Superior, Arizona, is going down to 7,000 feet after copper ore with a grade of 1.5%, about twice the current global average.

Critical minerals supply concerns

The US Dept. of Energy released a major report on supplies of 16 minerals critical for new technologies including "wind turbines, electric vehicles, photovoltaic cells and fluorescent lighting." The report also warned that mining and metal processing expertise "has gradually declined in countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, although the need to develop and retain such expertise has received increasing attention in recent years." I tried to download the report and summary from multiple computers without success - error messages say the files are corrupted. But Mineweb.com published a lengthy summary of it.

Mineweb says "five rare earths metals-dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium-are at risk in the short term, potentially impacting clean energy technology deployment in the years ahead." [Right, figure credit, Physorg.com]

The DOE report calls for a 3-pronged strategy to resolve the potential supply crunch: 1. "facilitate extraction, processing and manufacturing here in the United States, as well as encouraging other nations to expedite alternative supplies;" 2. develop substitutes; and 3. recycling, reuse and more efficient use could reduce global demand.

Rare earth elements (REEs) exist in Arizona, but generally not in concentrations high enough to make their mining economically viable. The DOE report notes that developing a new mine from scratch could run around $1 billion, with most of that investment upfront before any production would begin.

The 5th anniversary of "Arizona Geology"

Today marks the 5th anniversary of this blog and as has become somewhat of a custom on these occasions, I'm reprinting the very first post on Arizona Geology from January 1, 2007. The driving forces that prompted me to start blogging remain the same as they were five years ago. Some of the issues of the day have evolved or been subsumed by new developments, but many of them continue almost unchanged. So, here is blog post #1. It comes with a renewal of commitment and enthusiasm for 2012. Thanks to all of you who post comments or share your thoughts privately. I appreciate the support, the corrections, the elaborations, and the new insights. Happy New Year!

Arizona lives and dies by its geology

Arizonans depend on groundwater for life, minerals to build our communities and create jobs, and amazing geologic scenery for tourism and our own enjoyment. Arizona recently became the fastest growing state in the nation, putting increased demands on our natural resources and reigniting concerns about the environmental impact of all this growth. Then there are natural disasters such as floods, landslides, debris flows, earth fissures, and earthquakes that threaten our homes and lives.

On top of that, our university geology programs are among the best in the country. We are the number one mining state in the nation and global demand for copper and uranium are drawing renewed interest in mineral exploration. The State's expanded Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring 15% of our electricity to come from renewable energy sources, is generating re-examination of our geothermal resources.

Clearly, understanding our geology is critical to all Arizonans. Yet, one of the things I noticed when I came to Tucson a year ago is the fragmented nature of news coverage around Arizona. There is no state-wide newspaper or tv news. As a result, important geology-related news reported in one metropolitan area is often ignored elsewhere around the state.

The intersection of all this creates a need for collecting and sharing current activities, news, and opinions in the geosciences within the Arizona earth science community and to broader audiences. So, this site is an experiment.

My job as State Geologist of Arizona encompasses different responsibilities from my task as Director of the Arizona Geological Survey, giving me reign to work to ensure a healthy, dynamic, and robust earth science enterprise to benefit the State and the profession.

Within that scope, I'd like to try using this forum to
1. share news, ideas, opinions, and help foster a greater community sense in the geosciences,
2. reach out to the larger community to let them know how the geosciences affect all our lives, and
3. re-engage the public in better understanding of the nature and process of science.

Lee Allison
State Geologist and Director
Arizona Geological Survey