Lack Of Acid Supply Amid Pandemic Shuts Down Arizona Copper Mine
COVID-19 and its impact on global economies has done what two World Wars, countless economic cycles, and less-regulated foreign competition has been unable to do for more than a century– bring copper mining to a halt in Cochise County.
In March, Excelsior Mining shut down its new, state-of-the-art Gunnison Copper Project facility in Dragoon, along with the nearby historic Johnson Camp Mine where copper was first pulled from the ground in the 1890s. And even though many businesses in Arizona are reopening under social-distancing and safety guidelines, Gunnison’s mining equipment remains dormant.
The problem, according to the company, is that COVID-19’s ripple effect has left Excelsior unable to secure a reliable mid-term supply of the acid critical to its in-situ mining process.
“Because of the pandemic, supply chains around the world have been disrupted and the supply chain that impacts us is the one that delivers sulphuric acid,” according to JJ Jennex, Vice President of Corporate Affairs. “For example, Grupo Mexico, which is a major acid supplier, is not currently supplying any acid to the USA.”
Read more: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2020/06/19/lack-of-acid-supply-amid-pandemic-shuts-down-arizona-copper-mine/
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injecting it into the ground and recovering it as dissolved material. they built some plastic lined recovery ponds and drilled a bunch of wells over a small area and swear they know what they are doing. 
at least the aquifer seems to be the Willcox Playa, which should itself be a closed system (though lots of farms draw from it).
