Developers of an ambitious open-pit copper mine in Arizona have now enlisted former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s new lobbying firm.
The Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals’ hiring of the Bernhardt Group in late August comes as the mining company’s plans face legal and regulatory challenges. It also exemplifies the success that the former Interior secretary’s new lobbying shop has had in wooing clients formerly represented by his prior firm.
“This really isn’t new representation for our team,” Bernhardt Group partner Luke Johnson said in an email Wednesday, noting that “we previously did work for them at our prior firm and this is just them coming over to continue our work at the new firm.”
Hudbay Minerals’ Copper World project, which is fully permitted, consists of a large-scale, open pit copper mine and processing facility in the Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona’s Pima County. Environmental groups argue the project, which would produce copper as well as molybdenum concentrate, is being built in a hot spot for endangered species like jaguar and ocelots.
