News Release
Evaluating how to bring product from site to market is an important part of our prefeasibility study. While our study is nearing, we do not yet have definitive routes with associated timeframes to share. Yet we do recognize that this is an area of the study that is particularly important to community members, so we have held several community meetings about the route preferences that are emerging, and plan to hold several more.
Earlier this year, we narrowed down to two route preferences: (1) Flux Canyon Road and (2) Harshaw Road to the provisionally named Cross Creek Connector, which is an unconstructed road that would be outside of the Town of Patagonia limits. More recently, our study work, consultations with the community, and the county’s economic development plans (which include a viability assessment for a county multimodal facility) have all pointed to Flux Canyon Road as a preferred longterm route. We would look to the Harshaw Road/ Cross Creek Connector as a temporary route to be used only for construction and initial production traffic. We are still working on volumes and estimates to see if it would be possible to manage our traffic and deliveries within the parameters of the existing Town of Patagonia trucking ordinance and will share more information as it becomes available. If we are able to work within the existing parameters, then this would reduce the time of use of the Cross Creek Connector. Understanding that residents near both preferred routes have concerns about impacts, we remain committed to listening, working to understand and address those concerns, and developing plans to reduce impacts as much as possible. We have time to work through this together. Please email askhermosa@south32.net or contact Melanie Lawson at 520-419-5021 or melanie.lawson@south32.net to learn more about future community meetings regarding routes.