SANTA FE, N.M. —

The transfer of water rights for the reopening of a little-used copper mine, closed since 1982, has been denied by State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson.

Quoting a 2006 state engineer's report, Anderson wrote, "New Mexico's water future will be determined by water demand and availability of our water resources [and] climate change will likely have a significant impact on both."

The application for water rights, needed to reopen the Copper Flat Mine near Hillsboro, was submitted by the Tulla Resources Group of Australia on behalf of the New Mexico Copper Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of a Canadian corporation which, in turn, is owned by Tulla Resources.

Opposing their plan to reopen the mine were the Sierra Club Rio Grande and four other entities, who argued that i

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