Augusta Resource Provides Rosemont Copper Permit Update
Sep 8, 2011 08:30:00 (ET)
DENVER, CO, Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Augusta Resource Corporation (tsx/nyse amex:AZC) ("Augusta" or the "Company") announces that the U.S. Forest Service ("USFS") has advanced Rosemont Copper's draft Environment Impact Statement ("EIS") to the final internal review and printing stage and expects issuance to the public in mid-October.
As previously announced, copies of the preliminary draft EIS were delivered by the Coronado National Forest to the State of Arizona and local Cooperating Agencies for their final review on June 1, 2011. To ensure complete input and comments on the preliminary draft EIS, the Cooperating Agencies were granted a 30 day extension from their originally scheduled review deadline of June 30.
The Notice of Availability ("NOA") for the final draft EIS is now expected to be issued in mid-October. This will commence the final 90 day public comment period which includes several public hearings to be held in the local Tucson and Pima County area. The timeline to the announcement of the NOA includes an allowance for printing of the document. The final draft EIS will include a selection of a preferred alternative for development and an impact mitigation analysis and plan. Subsequently, the Company expects the EIS to be finalized and the Record of Decision to be issued for the Rosemont Copper project in the first quarter of 2012.
About Augusta Augusta is a base metals company focused on advancing the Rosemont Copper deposit near Tucson, Arizona. Rosemont hosts a large copper/molybdenum reserve that may account for about 10% of US copper output once in production in 2013 (for details refer to www.augustaresource.com ). The exceptional experience and strength of Augusta's management team, combined with the developed infrastructure and robust economics of the Rosemont project, will propel Augusta to become a solid mid-tier copper producer. The Company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE Amex under the symbol AZC.
