Jaguar video generates widespread media attention on threats posed by Rosemont Mine

A wildlife surveillance video capturing movements of the only known wild jaguar in the United States is focusing national attention on the impacts of the proposed Rosemont copper project on the big cat and other endangered species.

The mine would be constructed in the biologically-rich Santa Rita Mountains that hosts a dozen endangered species including the jaguar.

The video taken by the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation CATalyst, shows the male jaguar named “El Jefe” roaming through mountain woodlands and a stream that would be impacted by the proposed open-pit copper mine.

Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. is seeking state and federal permits to construct the mile-wide, half-mile deep mine in the Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest southeast of Tucson.

The release of jaguar video comes just weeks after InvestigativeMEDIA released the documentary “Flin Flon Flim Flam” on the worldwide operations of Hudbay Minerals.

The online documentary exposes Hudbay’s history of operating Canada’s most polluting copper smelter, the company’s alleged atrocities in Guatemala where it stands accused in a Toronto civil trial of murder, gang rapes and a shooting that left a man paralyzed, as well as the company’s conflicts with indigenous people in Peru.

The proposed mine’s waste rock and mine tailings would destroy more than 3,000 acres of national forest, obliterate miles of rare desert waterways that supports the jaguar and other endangered species including another cat, the ocelot.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is preparing a biological opinion on the mine’s impact on endangered species, including the jaguar.

If FWS determines the mine project may adversely impact an endangered species, but not jeopardize its continued existence, the FWS may allow the “incidental take” of an endangered species that could result in the death of  El Jefe.

“The proposed Rosemont Mine poses a direct threat to the life of the jaguar and will have a devastating impact on the migration of future jaguars into the United States from Mexico by destroying a primary wildlife corridor provided by the Santa Rita Mountains,” says Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.

“The Rosemont Mine would destroy El Jefe’s home and severely hamstring recovery of jaguars in the United States,” said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Center. “The Santa Rita Mountains are critically important to jaguar recovery in this country, and they must be protected.”

Hudbay still needs a state Air Quality Control Permit, a federal Clean Water Act permit, and final approval from the U.S. Forest Service before the mine could proceed. The Forest Service cannot issue its final decision until after the FWS completes its biological opinion.