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, waste water, 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 our mining operations begin.

Banking Central Arizona Project Water
In 2006, we began purchasing, 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 ground water now, so that our company can use the CAP water for processing some time 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 and 2007 was approximately 72,000 acre feet. An additional 54,000 acre feet are being purchased in 2008. (An acre foot is 325,851 gallons.)

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.