My in laws have a place in Arizona so I try to glean what I can about the mining projects down there.

Curis resources Florence project is about 25 miles from them and the developer is building within 12 miles of Florence. The in-situ copper recovery method that they would like to use (pump chemical strippers into the ground to recover the copper) has many worried about the safety of their groundwater. (too close to developement)

The other deposits that are out in the deserted areas will fare much better provided that they have aquifiers on their claim land that are sufficient to provide enough water for their resources. The water resource pdf that was posted previously was an interesting read in that the farmers take a vast amount of water that is not subject to the same regulations as the mining industry. IE: conservation etc.

Arizona has been the 5 c's for the last 100 years.

Behind Chile & Peru, I think AZ is the largest producer..

The Five C's are: Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus and Climate