It is happening tomorrow night (Thursday September 21st ) in the Miami Town Hall beginning 6pm.  This is when the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will be holding a public hearing on its plans to issue a Renewal Permit for the continued operations  of Freeport McMoRan’s copper smelter near Miami.

It was back in 2014 when Freeport announced it was planning a major smelter expansion project at its Miami operations which the company said would increase copper production and also comply with new tougher EPA standard

The company went on to say upon completion of the project the copper concentrate throughput for the Miami smelter would increase by approximately 30 percent to a capacity of 900,000 tons per year from the current average during this period of time which was some 700,000 tons per year..  

According to the Arizona Silver Belt  the expanded smelter capabilities  would comply with the new EPA ambient air quality standards for sulfur dioxide emissions

In further details about the copper smelter expansion project here a major component of the expansion was to install a new smelting vessel which along with modifications to other facilities in the smelter was to allow for increased copper production.

The local press was also told much of the construction work would be related to emission control systems in order to  capture virtually all fugitive gases and particulate emissions. The expected result would be  the capture of over 99 percent of the sulfur dioxide and other emissions from the Miami operations.

The new smelting vessel was scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of this year ( 2017 ) with production ramping up shortly thereafter.  Up to several hundred construction workers were involved in the expansion. The company said it had plans to hire about 20 new employees to operate and maintain the new emission control systems and facilities.

To feed the expanded smelter here additional copper concentrate was to come primarily from Freeport’,s mines at Morenci, Arizona and Chino , New Mexico.  Concentrate would continue to be coming in from the company’s Serrita and Bagdad Arizona mines.

Interested persons who plan to go to the public hearing tomorrow night still have time to view the ADEQ’s Draft Renewal of the Smelter Permit and other documentation which are available for inspection at  the Miami Town Hall during regular business hours  at 500 Sullivan Street in the Town of Miami.  Or this paper work can be reviewed directly from the ADEQ web site..  Oral and written comments will be taken from the public by representatives of the  Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.  Grounds for comment are limited to whether the draft of the agency’s smelter permit renewal meets criteria for issuance spelled out in the state air pollution control laws or rules