NEAR PATAGONIA, Arizona — Deep in Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains, the push to both accelerate and green mining of critical minerals for electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines and batteries is testing the industry’s environmental bona fides.
A winding road out of the small town of Patagonia followed by the bubbling Harshaw Creek and marked by roaming cattle, “private property” signs and RVs opens up to an industrial site where Australian miner South32 is angling to dig into one of the world’s largest undeveloped zinc resources and possibly produce enough battery-grade manganese to satisfy domestic demand as the nation shifts to electric vehicles.
The federally backed Hermosa critical minerals project in Santa Cruz County is at the center of an ongoing debate on and off Capitol Hill: whether the nation’s mining sector can shed its historically dirty reputation to produce materials needed to fight climate change and wean the U.S. off China without wrecking the environment.
Pat Risner, president of South32 Hermosa, says he believes the company can serve as a model for how things can be done differently in an industry afraid of change and marred by past conflicts and poor environmental stewardship. "This is our opportunity to show the world how we're going to do things, we're creating it from the ground up, from a blank sheet of paper," Risner said in early October.
South32's plan involves the construction of an underground mine — down to 4,000 feet below ground — to access both zinc and manganese. The mine would be operated with remote-controlled technology from a hub 19 miles southwest in the city of Nogales. South32 will build an on-site facility to process the zinc, a metal used in solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, and is hoping to construct a manganese processing facility in southern Arizona, although a location has not been determined.
Risner said the nation’s success in building up sustainable supply chains and weaning itself off foreign supplies hinges on projects like South32 doing things right, by being more transparent and collaborative with tribes, host communities and environmental groups and focusing on environmental, social and governance standards.
Longer term, Risner said building up cleaner domestic industry will also rely on federal policies like cost-share and tax incentives being in place. “If we want to create domestic supply chains that have American standards of protection for workers and higher ESG and sustainability standards, there is a cost to that,” he said. “You can buy these commodities from places in the world that might not have those protections, that might not have those standards.”
The Biden administration is publicly backing the project, with an eye on boosting domestic supply chains, namely the production of battery-grade manganese, a key ingredient for EVs also used in military applications. In addition to doling out almost $190 million in federal grants, the administration granted the project special status by making it the first critical minerals mining project to go through the FAST-41 streamlined permitting process.
But the rush to dig up critical minerals is also fueling debate about the effects of mining in biodiversity hot spots in the parched Southwest and what trade-offs exist when it comes to protecting special places and slashing emissions.
Joni Stellar, the board chair of the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance, or PARA, finds the prospect of a large mine in such a unique landscape troubling. On a recent hike through Arizona’s sun-drenched Madrean Sky Islands in the nearby Santa Rita Mountains, Stellar explained how various species of animals like jaguar and ocelot “hopscotch” from one enclave of high-altitude oak woodlands to another, avoiding hot and dangerous roads down below.
Stellar said she worries the project would bring light, air, water and noise pollution to the Patagonia Mountains, which is also part of the "sky islands" and one of the most biodiverse areas in the United States.
PARA and other groups have expressed concern that South32 could generate toxic manganese dust, dry up springs that support sensitive species and dump so much water into Harshaw Creek that it fuels flooding downstream.
“They’re smack dab in the middle of one of the hottest biodiversity hot spots in the world,” said Stellar. “They talk about mining sustainability. … There’s nothing sustainable about mining.”
Risner with South32 maintains that he welcomes scrutiny, noting the company has cleaned up millions of tons of historical pollution from past mining at the site near Patagonia and is pushing to achieve and verify no net loss of biodiversity and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
South32, he said, has also worked to limit the area of disturbance — the Hermosa project would disturb a total of 750 acres, with less than 500 acres on federal land and the rest on private land. South32 notes that average open-pit mines in the state can cover more than 10,000 acres. South32 also maintains that it's conducted third-party studies to ensure no flooding will occur on Harshaw Creek.
“We respect the role that [nongovernmental organizations] have in holding the mining industry accountable,” said Risner. “With the record of the industry … there are groups that need to hold us accountable.”
Biden’s mineral push
Pressure is growing for EV manufacturers and federal officials to green and secure mineral supply chains, a push that’s having the knock-on effect of putting a spotlight on mining practices.
“The option of ‘we’re just going to leave it in the ground’ really isn’t an option anymore,” Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt said during a recent event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We have to find a way to do this in a way that’s sustainable, that meets the tests of our democracy but also delivers the outputs we need that escapes our dependency on China.”
The Biden administration, which has long faced accusations from industry and Republicans of blocking domestic mining, announced last spring that it was granting the Hermosa project special status meant to streamline permitting.
The Obama-era FAST-41 program lays out a process through which regulators aim for complete reviews on tight timelines while boosting coordination and transparency. Under the Trump administration, the hardrock mining sector became eligible for the FAST-41 process in 2021. Both zinc and manganese are deemed "critical" by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Eric Mears, vice president of Haley and Aldrich, a consulting firm that counts South32 among its clients, said Hermosa is unique because it’s mostly on private land, aside from some ancillary portions on public land. Mears pointed to South32 developing a closure and reclamation approach before mining, including sophisticated geochemical models, dedicated waste repositories, detailed closure plans and advanced water treatment.
The company's efforts, he said, show how the industry has evolved over the past 20 years, which is critical given the vulnerabilities the U.S. faces.
“If it’s mined in countries like Russia or China not friendly to America, the supply of those materials ... we can be held hostage,” he said.
At Hermosa, the Biden administration is pushing to juice production of battery-grade manganese, a silvery brittle metal that hasn’t been mined in the U.S. since the 1970s and for which there is no domestic processing.
Today, China is home to 95 percent of the plants needed to refine the ore to make high-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate, which is used in a host of EV batteries, including lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries and nickel manganese cobalt oxide, said Zach Parsons, a manganese analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
Meanwhile, 40 percent of the world’s manganese ore mined this year will be in South Africa, with smaller amounts produced in Australia and less than 1 percent in North America, namely Mexico, said Parsons.
He noted that South32 is already a major player in the space, with two significant mines in South Africa in a joint venture with the British multinational mining company Anglo American, as well as assets in Australia.
As companies push to comply with the Inflation Reduction Act and secure lucrative tax incentives, Parsons said the bigger focus is on processing.
South32 said it’s intending for manganese and zinc from the mine to supply the domestic market and working to move the zinc through North American smelters, possibly in Canada or Mexico.
But South32 isn’t alone in receiving federal support to feed blossoming supply chains.
The Energy Department also doled out a $166 million grant to Element 25, a company with an existing manganese mine in west Australia with plans to build a processing facility in Louisiana. Element 25 has also inked deals with General Motors and Stellantis. Parsons said EV batteries will make up about 90 percent of demand for high-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate by 2030.
“This is especially true in the U.S. and the West generally, where there is a particular fondness for NCM, or nickel cobalt manganese batteries,” he said.
Industry shift or ‘greenwashing’?
Dire predictions around skyrocketing need for raw transition minerals and processing capabilities are fueling debate around how to encourage and even enforce tribal engagement and environmental protections.
Conor Bernstein, a spokesperson for the National Mining Association, said the U.S. mining sector has the world’s leading environmental and safety standards and that companies have committed to going beyond those requirements. South32, he said, is part of a new generation of mining companies trying to do things differently, and the industry’s past challenges stem from a time when there were weaker regulations compared to today.
Opposition to mining, he argued, has impeded the industry’s ability to demonstrate evolution.
“We need to see projects come online and to give companies a chance to show that they can responsibly produce,” said Bernstein.
Yet the mining sector continues to face increasing scrutiny on the local, state and federal level as the push for critical minerals accelerates. South32 is no exception.
Green groups in Arizona are quick to note the state has a reputation as being among the most mining-friendly jurisdictions in the world and say any activity that degrades water supplies in a parched area rich with biodiversity must be heavily scrutinized.
PARA is leading legal action against Arizona regulators for approving water permits for the Hermosa project and asking EPA to scrap a state-approved air permit. Stellar argues that Hermosa being chosen to move through the FAST-41 process has empowered those regulators to cut corners.
“Those are the sorts of shortcuts agencies tend to take when a mine is deemed to have to happen,” said Stellar.
Local officials have also echoed PARA’s concerns about the use of water, possible flooding and the uptick in traffic as a result of the Hermosa project.
South32 has countered that it’s striving to meet higher environmental standards and will offer a big economic boost to the local area. The project is located in Santa Cruz County, which has an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, according to data from the Arizona Commerce Authority — higher than the state’s rate of 4.9 percent.
Mining companies are also under the microscope for how they deal with consent from tribes and local communities.
Jared Naimark, a California mining organizer for the nonprofit Earthworks, said many companies are simply “greenwashing” rather than changing their practices. “It’s definitely an industry that doesn't want to change and has a big lobbying presence, so that’s part of it,” said Naimark. “Right now we have an opportunity because of the transition and demand for energy transition minerals, a lot of companies have realized they need to do better to improve their reputations.”
Earthworks and other groups are pushing to reform the nation’s 150-year-old mining law, backing legislation that Democrats like Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva have floated, which includes some elements of “free, prior and informed consent.” FPIC focuses on obtaining consent from Indigenous peoples for any activities undertaken on their land.
Naimark said he’s also joined other groups in petitioning the Interior Department to change its regulations to give federal land managers more discretion to deny mining projects that don’t have tribal consent.
Earthworks has also long urged the Biden administration to impose binding environmental and human rights standards on mining companies that receive federal funding, including a requirement that all Indigenous communities receive FPIC if they are impacted by activities funded under the order.
A growing number of groups like the Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy Coalition are pushing to include FPIC into corporate policies.
“They’re not perfect solutions, but that’s how we’ve been advocating within the U.S. policy framework, by finding creative ways to get us closer to FPIC,” said Naimark.
South32 said it’s consulting in Arizona with up to 14 tribes that have a historical affiliation with the site and that the company has conducted cultural resource surveys across 30,000 acres of public and private land to ensure the project doesn't impact any cultural or archaeological sensitive areas. South32 is also vowing to apply the "principles and processes" of FPIC in seeking to obtain and maintain agreed outcomes with Indigenous, traditional and tribal members where "adverse impacts are likely to occur to cultural heritage."
Exactly how that will play out remains to be seen.
Austin Nunez, chair of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s San Xavier District in Arizona, told reporters on a sunny day in early October that his tribe has long lived with the effects of mining, with some projects forced on it that left a long legacy of pollution. Nunez said he doesn’t support mining but that South32 has been responsive to the tribe’s concerns about the fate of tribal artifacts and water quality.
“They did the right thing by coming to us first before they started any work over there. … That was refreshing to see,” said Nunez. “It still remains to be seen if it will be the cleanest mine to be operated.”
