Securing Water for RCM's Future

In addition to managing water efficiently today, our company is taking action now to build the needed water supplies for mining activities that are a full decade or more away. We are doing so in a way that supports sustainable water management—in other words, managing water by taking into account the needs of both current and future users of this precious resource.

Water is required to process ore and to cool the mine. Our goal is to secure and use renewable or sustainable water sources, including surface water, wastewater, water from previous mines and Central Arizona Project (CAP) water.

By purchasing and banking sustainable water supplies now, we can avoid impact on community and regional water supplies when mining operations begin.

Banking Central Arizona Project Water

In 2006, we began purchasing and then banking CAP water for future use. The source for CAP water is the Colorado River, which receives water from rain and snowfall across a large portion of the western United States. We'll continue to purchase this CAP resource as long as CAP has excess water available for Arizona. The water we purchase is "banked" with the New Magma Irrigation and Drainage District and the Hohokam Irrigation and Drainage District. These districts use Resolution Copper's water supply for crops in lieu of groundwater now, so that our company can use the CAP water for processing in the future.

Each year, we purchase enough water to meet approximately two to three years' worth of mining production requirements. Total water purchased and banked for 2006, 2007 and 2008 was approximately 120,000 acre feet. An additional 94,500 acre-feet are being purchased in 2009. (An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.) This equates to nearly five years of mining production requirements.

Seeking Additional Sources

Because excess CAP water will not always be available for purchase, Resolution Copper is also exploring additional long-term sources of sustainable water to meet the long-term needs of operations.