"TUCSON, Ariz. — A federal judge has rejected a request by Native American tribes to stop Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals Inc. from preparing a planned new Arizona copper mine’s site in the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson.
U.S. District Judge James Soto refused to issue a temporary restraining order and dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Tohono O’odham, Pasqua Yaqui and Hopi tribes and the group Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
Soto’s ruling Monday said Hudbay’s surrender of a suspended Clean Water Act Permit for a nearby project named the Rosemont Mine removed the lawsuit’s legal basis because the projects were not legally related.
The company pivoted to the Copper World project on private land on the Santa Ritas’ western slopes after the Rosemont Mine ran into legal obstacles related to its location largely on public land."