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Gary Murrey, GM Apache Sky Casino, speaks at the Pinal Partnership meeting. James Hodl | Copper Area News
Chris Bannon of Biosphere 2 was in attendance at the Pinal Partnership meeting.
James Hodl | Copper Area News
Copper Area News
Economic and job prospects in district one of Pinal County are looking up, according to Pete Rios, who represents the district in the county board of supervisors.
Speaking at the Nov. 14 breakfast meeting of the Pinal Partnership at the Coolidge Center For the Performing Arts, Rios noted that several projects with the potential to create new jobs and boost the economy within the district have been proposed or are nearing conclusion.
District one is the largest of Pinal County’s five board of supervisors districts encompassing the sparely populated eastern section including the towns of Superior, Kearny, Mammoth, Dudleyville, Oracle and San Manuel. It also takes in parts of Florence and Eloy.
“Pinal County has much to offer,” Rios said in his opening statements at the meeting which he hosted. “We have lots of open spaces, rivers that actually flow, and a ready and eager workforce. And we have a can-do spirit that gets things done, such as the restoration of the Florence County Courthouse. The proposal that Pinal build a new courthouse and level the old one for use as a parking lot. But the courthouse building is part of our heritage and history, so we renovated it and repurposed its use, leaving in place a structure that also makes Florence a tourist destination.”
Among future projects Rios proposed for Pinal County include an upgrading of Central Arizona College into an institution offering four-year degrees. He further proposed an upgrading of Route 77 to make the trip to the White Mountains and Aravaipa Canyon so the people from Tucson and Phoenix can get to the skiing, hunting and horseback riding areas quicker and safer.
Rios turned the podium over to speakers who addressed a major project that could soon have a positive effect on the Pinal County economy and spur job growth.
Work on the Apache Sky Casino on a 230-acre site along Highway 77 near Dudleyville is proceeding on schedule, said Gary Murrey, CEO and general manager of Apache Sky and its sister site, the 20-year-old Apache Gold Casino near Globe. Although a problem was encountered (unstable soil due to a high gypsum content) it was quickly resolved, enabling phase one of the project to open by April 2015, he noted.
Apache Sky will be an actual gaming facility, with up to 600 slot machines, 12 table games, six poker tables, and a full-service restaurant and lounge offering both indoor and outdoor patio seating. Once open, the casino will create 400 jobs for local residents.
In the second phase of the project, a hotel will be built with features that could include a theater, bowling alley and conference center, Murrey said. Both the Apache Star and Apache Gold casinos are operated under an agreement with the San Carlos Apache Tribe.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), already the largest single employer in Pinal County, will soon add addition jobs as it adds 744 beds to the Eloy Detention Center, said John Glutch, former warden and current consultant to the facility.
A privately owned and operated prison, the Eloy Detention Center already has about 1,600 beds which are used for housing prisoners from within Arizona and from other states, and in housing illegal immigrants earmarked for deportation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The additional 744 beds will requiring building two additional prison blocks, creating temporary construction jobs and later additional full-time prison jobs, Glutch explained.
The additional beds will be used to incarcerate female prisoners and to house illegal immigrant families prior to deportation, he added.
A major milestone in the development of Resolution Copper block cave mining project near Superior was within days of being realized, Dave Richins, Resolution’s principal government affairs advisor told the audience.
Work on the No. 10 shaft was nearing the target depth of 6,943 feet and will likely be reached before Thanksgiving, Richins said. The current progress was made possible by the installation of state-of-the-art ventilation and cooling equipment that ended the suffocating heat that was slowing work, he explained.
Resolution Copper’s Superior operation is using the block cave mining method used at more than 20 countries around the world. This method has environmental, safety and cost advantages that make it suited to mining large, low-grade, deep ore bodies that otherwise would not be feasible or economically viable using alternative methods such as open pit or cut and fill, Richins noted.
Panel caving is more efficient than other underground mining methods for this type of deposit and uses gravity primarily to break the rock. It will allow Resolution Copper to mine the most ore while creating the least amount of waste, he added.
The process begins with an initial round of explosives at the bottom of the ore body to break up the rock. Then rock is funneled downward and removed. The void created in the removal process allows gravity to continue forcing the ore body downward. Automated loaders transfer the ore onto trains, where it is transported, crushed, and then conveyed to the surface for additional processing.
Pre-smelter processing will be performed near Superior, Florence Junction and Magma Junction. Current plans call for shipping the copper ore to a smelter in Utah, though some smelting could be done in Arizona in the future.
Ultimately the Resolution Copper project could create 3,700 jobs in northern Pinal County, Richins said.
Repurposing of Biosphere II towering over SaddleBrooke into the world’s largest earth science laboratory also can add to economy of southern Pinal County, said Chris Bannon, director of economic and enterprise development at the University of Arizona.
Current plans call for improving educational and research facilities (including a landscape evolution observatory) on the Biosphere II property and to build a conference center that can be used not only by scientific organizations but also for corporate events, Bannon said. Once these conferences are over, attendees can couple their trips into vacations taking them into Pinal County’s Aravaipa Canyon and the White Mountains for hiking, hunting, bird-watching or simply to relax at one of the area’s bed and breakfasts.
Scott Bender, Pinal County engineer, gave a progress report on the creation of a North-South Corridor through the county’s rapidly growing areas to provide faster highway travel with a link to I-10. An impact statement listing four possible routes to the Arizona Department of Transportation in mid-October with public hearings on the plans scheduled shortly thereafter.
Tim Kanavel, Pinal County economic development program manager, also reported progress being made on Inland Port Arizona, a large railroad hub planned for Picacho near Coolidge. Located east of Highway 87 between Hume Road and House Road, the 1,637 acre facility will serve as a hub where goods arriving at the port of Long Beach, Calif. will be sent by rail car to be assembled into trains according to the goods’ ultimate destination.
In the works for nine years, Kanavel is certain the project will get the go-ahead from the state next year as both candidates for governor made the railroad hub a priority project in their campaigns.
Coolidge Mayor Tom Shope also told of how Coolidge is repurposing an old school building (“where I attended elementary school years ago,” Shope said) into an Artisan Village. To be redeveloped in stages, the facility will eventually provide work areas for artisans to create their crafts and galleries in which to sell them; places where entrepreneurs can launch new businesses; and flexible classrooms where educational programs and seminars can be staged. The Coolidge Chamber of Commerce also will relocate its offices into the Artisan Village.
Shope added that the Coolidge Center For the Performing Arts (built in 1977) was in the process of upgrading so that it can finally meet its potential as a venue for plays, concerts and performances.
James J. Hodl is a career journalist who has worked for newspapers, magazines and trade journals. A graduate of Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism, Hodl began his career as a reporter with the Palatine (IL) Herald and the Morton Grove (IL) Review before becoming editor of the trade publication Appliance Service News. In recent years, Hodl has had articles published in Consumers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Home Remodeling, Kitchens & Baths and Salute; and has contributed to trade publications serving the home furnishings, restaurant and casino markets. A native of Chicago, Hodl relocated to San Tan Valley in 2013.
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