Cactus Mine Owners, ADEQ Win Award

Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc., owner of the Cactus Mine (formerly the ASARCO Sacaton mine) just west of Casa Grande, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) have been presented an award by the American Exploration and Mining Association for their collaboration on redeveloping the site into an asset that could generate more than $8.5 billion in total economic output.

The 4,000-acre site was in production for a decade by ASARCO from 1974-1984 and was transferred to an environmental trust after the company declared bankruptcy in 2009 because of companywide issues.

The trust managed the care and maintenance of the site until the mine property was acquired in 2020, following a $20 million reclamation of the asset.

Arizona Sonoran, formerly known as Elim Mining, has been working on permitting the site and exploring its mineral content while planning an operation that’s water-efficient and aiming for a low-carbon footprint.

The Cactus Mine’s adjacent ParksSalyer deposit, with a maiden mineral resource estimate announced in October 2022, dramatically increased the property’s potential output, containing an additional 2.9 billion pounds of copper.

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In other I-10 news, U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced in late January she and Kelly had sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in support of a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant seeking funding to

The addition marks Cactus as the third largest independent copper project in the U.S.

Ian McMullan, chief operating officer of Arizona Sonoran, gave much of the credit for the award to the state agency.

“It was through the vision of the state that this project became a reality,” he said. “In 2019, this property was a taxpayer liability, however, on the basis of a strong working relationship with the ADEQ, the project continues to be de-risked and through the company’s feasibility studies, is advancing quickly toward a construction decision.”

Arizona Sonoran spokesman Adam Hawkins said that upon a positive construction decision expected in late 2024, the company hopes to begin mining activity in 2026.

“We were actually hoping for a construction decision in late 2022 until the discovery of the Parks-Salyer deposit, which was great news because we were able to find a lot more copper, but it also took us back to the drawing board to plan the potentially larger project,” he said.

Continued on page 73 build a new interchange at Kortsen and Kleck roads, citing its strategic position near Lucid Motors and Nikola.

“Improving mobility for both plants and thousands of good-paying jobs, the I-10 Kortsen Interchange is truly the gateway to the electric vehicle future,” the senators said.

The $25.5-million interchange is included in the voter-approved Pinal Regional Transportation Plan but was left unfunded after the defeat last year of Proposition 469.