Augusta Receives State Approval For Rosemont Reclamation Plan

 

VANCOUVER, BC - Augusta Resource Corporation reported that it received written notification from the Arizona State Mine Inspector that the Rosemont Copper Project Mined Land Reclamation Plan has been approved.

The Rosemont reclamation plan calls for reclamation to begin after the first year of production and continue concurrently throughout the life of the project. Rosemont has contracted with the University of Arizona to study which native plants will re-vegetate most quickly to support the habitat, and to date that work has been limited to greenhouse research. With the approval by the Mine Inspector of the reclamation plan, these studies can now include construction of test plots on the site to evaluate the greenhouse re-vegetation results into the real setting in which they will be utilized.

Augusta President and CEO Gil Clausen said:  Receipt of the reclamation permit is an important milestone for our project. We can now look forward to providing all of the financial information to assure the department and the community that reclamation at Rosemont will be done in the most environmentally responsible way possible. He added that the permitting process remains on schedule.  This approval takes us one step closer to advancing the Rosemont project into development.

Augusta has already received the necessary permit for groundwater withdrawal from the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Rosemont is committed to replacing as much available water as possible in advance to replenish the groundwater it will use. To date 45,000 acre-feet of water, or approximately eight years worth, has been purchased from the Central Arizona Project and by the end of 2009 all will be recharged into the Tucson Active Management Area aquifer.

Augusta continues to advance the regulatory approval process, which is expected to be completed over the next 12 months with Record of Decision (ROD) scheduled for July 2010. The ROD will be issued by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for mining activities on public land and the Army Corps of Engineers for the impact of mining activities on U.S. waters.

The company’s address is 400 - 837 West Hastings Street Vancouver, BC, V6C 3N6, 604.687.1717, fax: 604.687.1715.