Another copper project proposed for Southern Arizona
By MARK COWLING | Casa Grande Dispatch
FLORENCE — A second in-situ copper project, similar to the one proposed in Florence, may begin operations soon in southern Arizona.
The Gunnison Copper Project would be located 65 miles southeast of Tucson, between Benson and Willcox, in the Texas Canyon area. The tiny unincorporated town of Dragoon is about 5 miles to the south.
“This is a big part of our story: We’re in a part of the state that’s not heavily populated; there’s no water wells immediately around us; we can’t contaminate anyone’s water,” said J.J. Jennex, vice president of corporate affairs for Excelsior Mining, the Canadian company behind the project. “We’ve just entered the permitting phase, but from a permitting perspective we think we’ve got an ideal situation.”
That’s not to say the plan to leach copper from the ground has no detractors. An opposition website,dragoonconservationalliance.org, invites residents to get involved, attend meetings and say “no” to the project.
