SIRG recently had their EA file re-opened when Buzz Todd was re-assigned from the Yuma BLM office , and given the project in Sept. This is causing a 4-6 month delay, a fact that SIRG has no control over. While this is unfortunate, it is not uncommon. The Kingman office is/was very poorly run when compared to other BLM offices and the proof lies in the fact that both Mercator and Hondo were caught operating mines in the vicinity of SIRG's mine without permits.
Permitting delays cause problems for every mining company, not just the lost time but also additional expenses. Here are just a couple of examples that show how well SIRG is doing:
1. 15th June 2012 Toronto-listed Romarco Minerals said it had to reschedule the delivery of long-lead items for its Haile gold project to 2013, following a delay in gaining a federal Section 404 Wetlands permit.
Romarco last month said it expected a decision on the South Carolina project on August 16, 2013 , which meant that the project development would be delayed. (NOTE: From June 2012 to Aug 2013 is over a year delay. )
Romarco’s Caterpillar (CAT) mobile mine equipment for the Haile project is currently held in inventory by local CAT dealer Blanchard Machinery Company (BMC), which would deliver the equipment that was previously targeted for delivery by March 31, 2013 on a revised schedule, aligned with the start of the mine’s construction . For BMC to maintain the inventory over the extended schedule, the company would incur an additional expense of $30 000 a month, bringing the total monthly holding cost to about $230 000.
2. December 14, 2012 A new group set up to promote U.S. mining is on the warpath against permit delays for a large
proposed copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson, Ariz. The Forest Service released a draft environmental impact statement last year for Augusta Resource Corp.'s Rosemont mine but has yet to finalize the document or come out with a record of decision. Also pending is a key Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act permit.
3. December 9, 2012
Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, and Elizabeth Webb, a Vail, AZ. activist, noted that the Dos Pobres Mine in Safford, which opened in the mid-2000s, needed a decade to get its permits , although part of that was because it had to pull off a land exchange first. The Carlota Mine in Central Arizona also took more than a decade to receive its permits , said Hartmann.
Globally, the United States is tied with Papua New Guinea as the country that takes the longest time of 25 studied to permit a new mine - seven to 10 years, said a study prepared by Behre Dolbear Group, an international mining advisory group. The group said permitting delays are "the most significant risks to mining projects in the United States."
The U.S. fared better, sixth from the best of the 25 countries, when the study's researchers lumped permitting times with six other factors, including a country's political and economic systems, degree of corruption and stability of currency.
