A Copper Mine Could Advance Green Energy but Scar Sacred Land

As an elevator takes mine employees down a shaft 500 feet a minute, there is a piercing clang of cooling fans and the hiss of compressed air. A few dozen electricians, mechanics and welders are maintaining water systems and studying the mine.

Construction could take eight to 10 years, and the mine could eventually employ 3,700 workers, according to Resolution, reviving Superior, an old mining town.

There is an abundance of copper in Arizona, said Kray Luxbacher, head of the University of Arizona’s department of mining and geological engineering, but there are daunting legal hurdles to starting new mines or smelting plants.

“The intentions of the Biden administration are good, but they’re not going to get this done unless they find a way to come up with the raw materials,” she said.

Goldman Sachs predicts that global demand for copper will top supplies by 2025.

“I’m much more worried about copper than lithium, because if you are a battery manufacturer you can find ways to use less lithium,” said Michael Webber, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. “Copper is a big deal for electric vehicles, but it’s also a big deal for wind and solar and batteries and transmission lines and even nuclear power plants.”

Recycling could help, but building enough capacity to reuse copper in large volumes could take a decade or so, energy experts said.

That leaves Arizona. The mayor of Superior, Mila Besich, is eager to usher in a mining renaissance but is not overly optimistic.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/business/energy-environment/copper-mine-arizona.html