Judge Lets South32's $3.3B Arizona Mine Keep Building
A federal judge cleared the way for construction to continue at South32’s $3.3 billion Taylor mine in Arizona’s Hermosa project, ENR reports, rejecting an injunction while an environmental challenge proceeds.
Market Impact
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Raner C. Collins in Tucson denied the injunction Nov. 6. He found the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity had not shown likely irreparable harm from work expected before the court decides the underlying case. The groups allege deficiencies in the groundwater and endangered-species reviews and dispute the Forest Service’s authority to approve some infrastructure on federal land. Collins also cited a “substantial public interest in domestic critical-mineral supply.”
The ruling is not a final win. Collins said it does not “validate every aspect of the Project” and ordered the parties to submit an expedited briefing schedule within 14 days of the ruling.
The project sits about 55 miles south of Tucson. South32 targets first production from Taylor in the second half of its 2028 fiscal year. It spent $197 million on Hermosa in the September quarter, extending the underground decline and sinking the main and ventilation shafts. All flotation cells and major electrical transformers are installed. Sundt Construction is construction manager at risk, and ENR’s 2026 Top Contractors survey lists the $805 million Taylor process plant as Sundt’s largest project to break ground in 2025. South32 plans another $1 billion in Hermosa growth capital in fiscal 2027.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Spending pace: $1 billion across fiscal 2027 (July 2026 to June 2027) averages roughly $250 million per quarter if spread evenly, above the $197 million spent in the September quarter. Underground, shaft and process-plant trades should expect volume to hold or rise.
- Sundt is the buyer: As construction manager at risk, Sundt controls the Taylor process plant work. The source does not name open subcontract packages, so mechanical, electrical and process-plant subs should ask Sundt’s Southwest team directly about remaining scopes.
- Near-term federal-land work is small: South32 told the court that work on federal land over the next year is mostly geotechnical investigations, limited exploration drilling, previously disturbed areas and safety fencing. That fits geotech, drilling and fencing contractors. Larger civil scopes on the 423 acres of Coronado National Forest, including the access road, water infrastructure and haul roads, are likelier later.
- Tailings facility is a 2028 story: The second tailings storage facility is not expected to start until 2028 and still needs engineering and state permitting. Earthworks and liner contractors should not expect bid packages before then.
- Electrical: UNS Electric began the 138-kV transmission connection Sept. 8, with about 7 miles crossing federal land. Work could finish before the court rules, so line and substation crews have the clearest near-term window.
- Schedule risk has eased, not ended: The parties’ expedited briefing schedule was due within 14 days of the Nov. 6 order, or roughly Nov. 20. That schedule will show how fast the merits case could move, which matters most for the federal-land scopes planned beyond the next year.
