Appeals court issues ruling on Hudbay's Rosemont copper mine Hudbay Minerals (NYSE:HBM) -3.6% in Thursday's trading, as precious metals miners fall across the board as gold and silver prices post sizeable losses.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on the company's proposed Rosemont open pit copper mine in Arizona, saying it "affirmed the district court's judgment that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving the entirety of Rosemont Copper Company's mining plan of operations in its Final Environmental Statement and Record of Decision."
The Court writes that the Forest Service's assumption that Rosemont's mining claims were valid was based on a "misunderstanding" of mining law that allows mining companies to occupy federal land on which valuable minerals have been found.
"Rosemont wants to permanently occupy 2,447 acres of National Forest land with its waste rock, essentially free of charge, even though no valuable minerals have been found on that land and no mill sites have been established."