Arizona's earth fissures give that sinking feeling

The Florida sinkhole has generated lots of interest in similar phenomena in Arizona.  Phoenix's Channel 12 interviewed Joe Cook yesterday who runs the AZGS earth fissure program.  The AZGS interactive earth fissure viewer allows you to put in an address and determine if there are any fissures nearby.



Jonathon DuHamel compiled a set of sinkhole related resources from AZGS for his Wry Heat blog at the Tucson Citizen.

The USGS blogged about the Science of Sinkholes.

Florence to take copper project lands by eminent domain

The Florence Town Council voted 7-0 on Monday to take 1,187 acres of private land by eminent domain from Curis Resources which would  stop them from developing an in situ copper recovery project on the lands, according to a story in the Phoenix Business Journal.   Real estate developers have been battling the copper project over claims it will endanger groundwater supplies.   The Town has previously shut down the Curis offices over driveway access and office water service.  They also banned use of sulfuric acid for mining but not other uses.  [Right, land ownership around copper project.   Credit, Curis Resources]
    
Curis has a lease on 160 acres of state trust lands which they plan on developing first.   They released a new economic feasibility study that concluded:

The base case economics of the project indicate pretax Net Present Value (NPV) of US$748 million with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 38 percent

Life of project direct operating cost is estimated at US$0.79 per pound copper recovered. This is considered to be among the lowest cost copper producers globally.

Royalties paid to Arizona State Land Department over the life of the project will be approximately $162 million.

Operations are planned to occur on land owned by and leased by Curis from the Arizona State Land Department for a total of 13 years. The first nine years of copper production will occur exclusively on state land and is scheduled to begin in 2016. In year 10, production would expand on to private patented land owned by Curis.

Arizona Mining Association hires non-miner as president

 The Arizona Mining Association (AMA) today announced the appointment of Kelly Norton as its President.  Norton does not come from the mining sector. According to the AMA news release:

Norton brings more than 25 years of experience in government affairs, management, public relations, marketing and development to her new role. 

Norton most recently served as Executive Director of a local non-profit, overseeing all operations, management and fundraising.  Since 2006, she has also been a consultant to various small businesses and non-profit organizations with experience in research, political campaigns and government relations. 

"We are very pleased that Kelly is now leading the AMA and believe her expertise will be invaluable in supporting a responsible, sustainable and safe mining industry in Arizona,” said Francis McAllister, Chairman of the Arizona Mining Association.  “Norton’s immediate focus will be to provide a stronger strategic voice for this essential industry, so important for the economic well-being of Arizona and the nation.”

“One of my top priorities will be to position Arizona as a premier location for mining investment in the United States,” Norton said.  “Arizona mining companies have incredible opportunities to create more jobs and economic benefits for our state.” 

In 2011, the hard rock mining industry in Arizona had a total economic impact of $4.6 billion on the state’s economy and generated an estimated 49,800 jobs for Arizonans.  Mining has been an important part of Arizona since before it became a state.  Copper is one of the 5 C’s along with Cotton, Climate, Cattle and Citrus, which helped bring people to the state and create a viable economic base.  For more, visit www.azmining.com. 

About the AMA

Founded in 1965, AMA is a non-profit business league comprised of entities engaged in metal mining, mineral exploration, development, and production of copper, molybdenum, coal, uranium, gold, silver and other valuable minerals in Arizona.  The AMA represents 28 mining-related companies and 12 consulting and legal firms that have operations or offices in Arizona. The AMA is the primary advocate of the Arizona mining industry through promoting sound public policy at all levels of government, educating the public about the benefits of mining and supporting the sustainability of a safe and responsible mining industry.      

Big turnout for Havasu Canyon flood talk

About 400 people turned out Monday night in Apache Junction for my talk on the Havasu Canyon floods of 2008 and 2010.

The talk was part of the 2013 Arizona Lecture Series hosted at the Apache Junction High School Performing Arts Center.

I focused on the rescue of 170 campers who rushed to high ground in the middle of the night to escape rapidly rising flood waters, and the dramatic changes to Havasu Canyon from the biggest flood since 1898, including Havasu Creek changing course [Right, my photo], abandonment of two famous waterfalls, and creation of two new falls.   The Havasupai Tribes remarkable 10 month effort to restore the world famous recreation sites and facilities was partially undone by another monsoon flood in 2010.  The Tribe once again rebuilt their trails and campgrounds and continue to stabilize canyon walls along the creek's new course.

ADOT estimates $35 million to repair landslide damage to US 89

 ADOT issued an announcement yesterday that the initial estimate is $35 million to 'repair' US 89 from the February 20 Bitter Springs landslide [photo credit ADOT].  They did not elaborate on what the preliminary repair plans entail:

The Arizona Department of Transportation has been granted $2 million in immediate federal aid that can be used to continue investigating the cause of a landslide on a stretch of US 89 last month south of Page.

Following Governor Jan Brewer’s Declaration of Emergency last week, ADOT asked the Federal Highway Administration for the quick release of emergency relief funds and submitted an initial estimate to complete repairs of $35 million. This estimate may change as further information about the landslide is gathered by engineers.

The quick release funds will be used to assess the damage and the stability of the mountain slope, and conduct emergency operations.

The Federal Highway Administration’s emergency relief program reimburses state and local agencies for the repair or reconstruction of highways, roads and bridges that are damaged in natural disasters and catastrophic failures.

“Our budget for emergencies is very limited, and local governments have even greater financial constraints with limited cash available to fund emergencies,” said Jennifer Toth, ADOT deputy director for transportation. “This initial allocation serves as a down payment on the overall emergency relief needs for US 89. It will offset the cost for the geotechnical investigation of the landslide area to determine short- and long-term options.”

ADOT is currently conducting a geological investigation to determine the stability of the mountain slope in the Echo Cliffs. The agency is also performing damage assessments in the area and a more accurate estimate will be available in the future.

US 89 is currently closed between the US 89A junction near Bitter Springs to the State Route 98 junction near Page (mileposts 523-546). The highway has approximately 500 feet of damage, including 150 feet of pavement that settled four to six feet, due to a landslide and failure of the slope during the early morning hours on Feb. 20.

While US 89 remains closed indefinitely, the primary detour route is to take US 160 to SR 98 toward Page. Drivers also have the option to take US 89A north to Marble Canyon toward Fredonia to reconnect to US 89 in Kanab, Utah.

For up-to-date information on the US 89 closure, please visit www.azdot.gov/us89.

Northern Arizona uranium mine proposed on State Trust Lands

A joint venture between Uranium One and VANE Minerals is proposing to mine uranium from a breccia pipe on State Trust Lands in northern Arizona where federal lands have been withdrawn.[Right, location map of proposed breccia pipe mine. Credit, VANE Minerals]

According to a story in the Arizona (Flagstaff) Daily Sun, Wate Mining Co. has filed plans with the State Land Dept. to develop an underground mine that would "produce 500,000 pounds of uranium ore per year, employ 50 to 70, use 10 gallons of water annually, and later backfill the site with the rock that was removed during mining."  

[Update, 3-5-13:   We spoke with Kris Hefton at VANE and he said there are errors in the news story.  They expect 4-5 years for permitting and development of the mine, with production lasting about two years.  The NI-43-101 estimated about a resource of 1.1 million pounds, so that calculates out to roughly 500,000 lbs of uranium oxide, not ore,  per year for two years.]

VANE Minerals and Uranium One posted online an updated NI-43-101 Technical Report on the Wate Uranium Breccia Pipe, that was prepared by Tucson-based SRK Consulting.   [Right above, view of nearby Miller breccia pipe, showing typical landscape in the area.  Left, exploration drilling at the Wate breccia pipe in 2009.   Both photos courtesy of VANE Minerals]

Magnitude 2.0 earthquake in northwest Arizona

A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded in northwest Arizona 12 miles south-southwest of St George on February 28 at about 4pm local time.   The location is in the southern end of the Intermountain Seismic Belt.  [Right, yellow star marks quake epicenter.  Credit, USGS]

Arizona's mineral potential ranking soars in survey of best and worst places for mining

Arizona moved from 31st to 15th in the world in the mining industry's assessment of our current mineral potential.  This is one of a host of results in the new "Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies that was sent to approximately 4,100 exploration, development, and other mining-related companies world-wide. The survey represents responses from 742 of those companies, which has provided sufficient data to evaluate 96 jurisdictions."

Three US states, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, are in the top 10 jurisdictions in the world in terms of public policy factors that encourage or discourage investment.   The top factor cited for Utah is the quality of its geologic database.  Arizona is ranked 31st in quality of its geologic database.  Perhaps our project underway to digitize all the mining and mineral resource data for Arizona and put it online will have a similar impact on our standings. 
 

Arizona ranks 28^th out of 96 jurisdictions (nations, provinces, states) worldwide in how mining companies rank “public policy factors such as taxation and regulation affect exploration investment,”   and 40^th in “regulatory duplication and inconsistencies” (with higher numbers in this latter category indicating greater deterrent to investment).

The full report is available for free downloading at http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/mining-survey-2012-2013.pdf

Bitter Springs landslide "deep-seated, quarter-mile wide"

 ADOT has just posted a video showing their test coring and geotechnical assessment of the slide block on Echo Cliffs that took out a section of US 89.    Steve Boschen, Deputy State Engineer describes it as a "deep-seated, bedrock" slide, with no evidence of movement of the toe of the slide downslope. That sounds like it may a Toreva block slide, so common in this region, but it's not immediately clear why there is no evidence of movement of the toe.    It appears the top of the slide is along the highway and Boschen said the "base of the slip is a quarter-mile wide."   Geotechnical engineers are monitoring the slide for continued movement.

Governor issues emergency declaration over US 89 closure due to landslide

This announcement was just released by the Governor's Office i regards to the damage done to US 89 from last week's landslide:

Governor Jan Brewer today issued a Declaration of Emergency in response to the recent collapse of a portion of U.S. Highway 89, near Page, Arizona. The Declaration will assist the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) with seeking reimbursement from the Federal Highway Administration for necessary repairs to the roadway.

            The collapse occurred on February 20, 2013. As a result, ADOT has closed the highway indefinitely northbound and southbound at milepost 526, between Page and U.S. Route 89A. ADOT has already begun preliminary work to repair the damaged section of road, but it is unknown how long the highway will be closed.  [Right, view south along US 89 of damage caused by the landslide. Credit, ADOT]

Until repairs are completed, safe detour routes have been established at U.S. Route 89A, U.S. Route 160 and State Route 98.

            The severity of the road damage and anticipated cost of repairs will require the assistance of the Federal Highway Administration. The Governor’s Declaration of Emergency will assist the State in receiving federal reimbursement for expenses incurred while repairing the roadway.

            With today’s Emergency Declaration, authorized under A.R.S. § 26-303(D), Governor Brewer will:

a.  Declare that a State of Emergency exists in Coconino County due to slope failure and road surface collapse along U.S. Highway 89 effective February 20, 2013, and continuing; and

b.  Direct that the State of Arizona Emergency Response and Recovery Plan be used to direct and control state and other assets and authorize the Director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management to coordinate state assets; and

c. Direct the Arizona Department of Transportation to coordinate with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and request assistance under FHWA’s Emergency Relief Program.

Small earthquake south of Kingman and Bullhead

A magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded at about 11 pm local time last night, 15 miles SE of Bullhead City and 21 SW of Kingman.  [Right, yellow star marks earthquake epicenter. Credit, USGS]