Action Alert! Tell
Senators Bingaman and Domenici to support Mining Reform!
About
GRIP
GRIP is a nonprofit environmental
advocacy group that draws on local support and private
foundations to promote community health and protect our
quality of life. Despite our small size, we have taken
on some of the largest challenges facing southwestern
New Mexico. The High Country News (12/3/01) described
us as 'a plucky group of activists' for prodding Phelps
Dodge and the state to develop acceptable plans for mine
closure and reclamation. We also promote planning, groundwater
protection, and free-running rivers in the face of unsustainable
development practices. Our approach to these challenges
has been to bring technical, policy, and - when necessary
- legal expertise to this area and then to combine these
resources with an informed and involved public.
Video of the Month:
French Fries to Go with GRIP's Charris Ford
Chino Mine Lays Off 95
POSTED: 4:15 pm MST November 12, 2008
UPDATED: 6:13 pm MST November 12, 2008
KOAT
HURLEY, N.M. -- A spokesman for the Phelps Dodge owned and operated Chino mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, announced layoffs of 95 personnel Wednesday.
The spokesman said the layoffs were in various positions throughout the operation. The mine had 940 employees prior to the layoff.
The spokesman cited "current market conditions" as the reason for the layoff.
The Chino mine and processing facilities are located at Hurley, N.M., near Silver City. The Chino mine covers over 9,000 acres and is 1.75 miles across.
NMED Releases Record of Decision for Hurley Soils Clean-up
A draft Record of Decision (ROD) has been written by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) regarding remediation completed this summer in the town of Hurley. Out of 670 Hurley properties sampled, 523 were found to be contaminated with copper in excess of 5,000 parts per million, and in some cases with other metals. It has been almost 14 years since an agreement between the state and Chino Mines was signed to investigate and to clean up potentially dangerous “historic contamination” which occurred prior to 1970 in Hurley as well as an estimated 50 square miles in and around the Chino Mine. Read more
Financial Crisis Impacts Outlook for Mining Projects
Concerns about a growing global recession have brought down copper prices — and the share price of mining giant Freeport-McMoRan with them. By press time copper had hit a three-year trading low of $1.84 per pound. Shares of Freeport- McMoRan had closed at a four-year low of $32.81 per share, down over 70% from the stock’s 52-week high of $127.24. According to some industry analysts, commodities markets are expected to remain highly volatile and uncertain in the short-term. Read More
A Bird's Eye View of Mine Reclamation:
GRIP Mining Photo Essay 2nd Installment
As a follow-up to our last aerial photo-essay of PLS ponds at the Chino and Tyrone mines, we’re sharing more images from our collection, available at www. gilaresources.info. This time we’re highlighting the progress made in reclaiming tailings piles at Freeport-McMoRan’s Tyrone mine. Read More
Lone Mountain Copper Project Back on the Table?
In 2005 the Canadian mineral exploration corporation, Augusta Resources, acquired 100% interest in the Lone Mountain Copper Zinc Project, encompassing about 640 acres located at the southern end of Kirkland Road in Arenas Valley, 5 miles east of Silver City. Read More.
For Immediate Release
Date: June 26, 2008
Contact: Allyson Siwik, Executive Director
Gila Resources Information Project
575.538.8078 office 575.590.7619 cell
GRIP Settles Appeal of Chino Mine Dilution Proposal
Freeport-McMoRan Agrees to Water Treatment,
Saving 9000 acre-feet of Clean Groundwater Annually
Silver City, NM – The Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) has won its five-year fight against Chino Mine’s proposal to dilute contaminated water with clean groundwater rather than use more effective treatment technology. The environmental group announced today that it had reached a settlement with the mine under which Chino will use an advanced form of reverse osmosis to remove metals and sulfates from the wastewater it will produce for hundreds of years after mining stops at the site. Read more
New
to the GRIP Library! Available for Short-term Loan
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2: Water - Harvesting Earthworks. Written by Brad Lancaster; Rainsource Press, 2008. From www.harvestingrainwater.com/books/ volume2: “Earthworks are one of the easiest, least expensive, and most effective ways of passively harvesting and conserving multiple sources of water in the soil. Associated vegetation then pumps the harvested water back out in the form of beauty, food, shelter, wildlife habitat, and passive heating and cooling strategies, while controlling erosion, increasing soil fertility, reducing downstream flooding, and improving water and air quality. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Volume 2 shows you how to select, place, size, construct, and plant your chosen water-harvesting earthworks. It presents detailed how-to information and variations of a diverse array of earthworks, including chapters on mulch, vegetation, and grey-water recycling so you can customize the techniques to the unique requirements of your site.”
Hot, Flat and Crowded Why We Need a Green Revolution and How it Can Renew America. Written by Thomas L. Friedman; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. From book jacket: “Friedman explains how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the astonishing expansion of the world’s middle class through globalization have produced a planet that is ‘hot, flat and crowded.’ Already Earth is being affected in ways that threaten to make it dangerously unstable. In just a few years, it will be too late to fix things — unless the United States steps up now and takes the lead in a worldwide effort to replace our wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation that Friedman calls Code Green.”
We All Live in a Watershed: Getting to Know the Silver City Watershed. With Dave Menzie, geologist with the Surface Water Quality Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department. Recorded presentation and hike, videotaped by Community Access Television of Silver City and available on DVD.Southwestern New Mexico Environmental Health Resource Guide. English/Spanish. June 2008. Produced by GRIP under contract to the Office of Border Health/New Mexico Department of Health. Developed to help citizens address environmental health issues in their communities, the bilingual Environmental Health Resource Guide provides community members and organizations with local, state and federal contact information for the most common environmental health topics in the four counties of southwestern New Mexico (Catron, Grant, Luna and Hidalgo counties). The guide also offers answers to a variety of frequently asked questions by environmental health topic. Download the electronic version from www.gilaresources. info or call GRIP at 538.8078 to request a hard copy.
Gila
Resources Information Project 305A North Cooper St. Silver
City, NM 88061 phone/fax 575.538.8078 grip@gilaresources.info
Recognizing that human and environmental systems are inseparable
and interdependent, Gila Resources Information Project pursues two
goals: 1. To protect and nurture human communities by safeguarding
the natural resources that sustain us all; 2. To safeguard natural
resources by facilitating informed public participation in resource
use decisions. Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) was
incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1998.
