South32 Hermosa project closer to US federal approval

Staff Writer | March 6, 2026 | 

South32’s Hermosa project area. (Image by South32).

South32 (ASX: S32) moved closer to securing federal approval for its Hermosa zinc-silver project in Arizona after the US Forest Service released a Final Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Record of Decision indicating it intends to allow development on National Forest land.

The draft decision marks a key step in the federal permitting process because parts of the proposed mine and supporting infrastructure would sit on land within the Coronado National Forest. If finalized, the authorization would allow the company to expand development beyond privately held property and build key infrastructure on federal land.

The documents also trigger a formal review period for eligible stakeholders who previously submitted public comments. After that process, the agency may issue a final decision that would clear the way for construction of several project components.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement supports the agency’s preferred development alternative and includes technical analysis completed during years of environmental review. The plan would allow South32 to build a primary access road, a secondary dry-stack tailings facility and part of a 138 kV transmission line on National Forest land, with the power line to be constructed by UniSource Energy Services.

Hermosa was the first mining development accepted into the federal FAST-41 permitting program, which accelerates reviews for large infrastructure projects deemed strategically important to the US economy.

“This Draft Record of Decision reflects years of listening, collaboration and real changes shaped by community input,” said Pat Risner, president of South32 Hermosa. “The draft decision affirms our design and development approach, including mitigation measures described in the Final Environmental Impact Statement that were informed through agency and public consultation.”

As part of the review process, the Forest Service conducted an independent analysis of Hermosa’s Mine Plan of Operations released in 2024 alongside baseline environmental data collected over several years and feedback gathered during the National Environmental Policy Act comment period.

The agency concluded that the selected development alternative best meets the project’s objectives while minimizing environmental impacts. The plan includes a primary access road designed to avoid traffic near the town of Patagonia, a section of the 138 kV transmission line, an updated dry-stack tailings facility and a direct water discharge system high in the Patagonia Mountains intended to recharge the aquifer and support wildlife.

According to the Forest Service, the selected alternative would produce the smallest land surface disturbance while reducing impacts to air quality, water resources, cultural sites, recreation areas, wildlife habitat and nearby communities compared with other options studied.

State permits secured

South32 has already secured required state permits from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality for initial surface infrastructure located on private land.

“This outcome reflects a thorough, transparent process that affirms South32 Hermosa’s design and commitments are compatible with the long-term management of public lands and sets the stage for the final authorization process ahead,” director of environment and permitting Brent Musslewhite said.

Beyond regulatory requirements, the company has committed to nearly 140 additional conservation, mitigation and monitoring measures developed with federal agencies, Indigenous Nations and community stakeholders. South32 plans to operate the project under an adaptive management framework and a no-net-loss biodiversity standard designed to strengthen environmental protections as scientific understanding evolves.

The commitments also underpin ongoing negotiations toward a Community Protection and Benefits Agreement with local governments.

The Draft Record of Decision begins a 45-day objection period followed by a potential 45-day resolution process before the Forest Service issues a final decision. South32 expects the Final Record of Decision in July and said it will continue engaging with regulators and communities during the review period.

Designed with a surface footprint of about 750 acres, the Hermosa project is expected to use roughly 90% less water than many regional mining operations and could support up to 900 jobs at peak production while generating long-term investment in surrounding communities.

 

Tiny’ dinosaur, big impact: 90-million-year-old fossil rewrites history

New study says Alnashetri originated when the continents were still connected as the supercontinent Pangaea

University of Minnesota

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image: 

A new study of fossils from a bird-like dinosaur, called Alnashetri, provides new insight into how its lineage evolved, shrank and spread across the ancient world.

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Credit: Gabriel Díaz Yantén, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (02/25/2026) — A team co-led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researcher Peter Makovicky and Argentinean colleague Sebastian Apesteguía has identified a 90-million-year-old fossil that provides the “missing link” for a mysterious group of prehistoric animals. 

The study, published in the peer-review journal Nature, details the discovery of a complete skeleton of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis. Alnashetri belongs to a group of bird-like dinosaurs, known as alvarezsaurs, that are famous for their tiny teeth and stubby arms ending in a single large thumb claw. For decades, they have remained a mystery because most of the well-preserved fossils were found in Asia, while records from South America were fragmented and difficult to interpret.

In 2014, the almost complete fossil of Alnashetri was discovered in the northern part of Patagonia, Argentina, at a site that is world-renowned for its exquisite Cretaceous fossils. The species was originally named a few years prior based on fragmentary remains, but this newer, more complete specimen allowed the team to finally map the group's strange anatomy. The team spent the last decade carefully preparing and piecing together the fossils to avoid damaging the small bones.

“Going from fragmentary skeletons that are hard to interpret, to having a near complete and articulated animal is like finding a paleontological Rosetta Stone,” said Peter Makovicky, lead author on the paper and a professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “We now have a reference point that allows us to accurately identify more scrappy finds and map out evolutionary transitions in anatomy and body size.”

The discovery of this nearly complete skeleton opens up a new understanding of how its lineage evolved, shrank and spread across the ancient world.

• Unlike its later relatives, Alnashetri had long arms and larger teeth. This proves that some alvarezsaurs evolved to be tiny long before they developed these specialized features thought to be adaptations for an "ant-eating" diet.

• Microscopic analysis of the bones confirmed the animal was indeed an adult of at least four years old. These animals are not just among the tiniest non-avian dinosaurs, but they never get any bigger—the largest species are the size of an average human, very small for dinosaurs, and Alnashetri itself weighed less than 2 lbs making it one of the smallest dinosaurs known from South America.

• By identifying previously found alvarezsaurs fossils in museum collections from North America and Europe, the team proved these animals originated much earlier than expected when the continents were still connected as the supercontinent Pangaea. Their distribution was caused by the breakup of the earth's landmasses, not unlikely treks across oceans.

The well-preserved fossil was recovered from the La Buitrera fossil area, a site that has yielded other scientifically critical animals, including primitive snakes and tiny saber-toothed mammals.

“After more than 20 years of work, the La Buitrera fossil area has given us a unique insight into small dinosaurs and other vertebrates like no other site in South America," said Apesteguía, a researcher at Universidad Maimónides in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Their work is far from over, as the scientists continue to discover and study fossils from the same area where they discovered Alnashetri. “We have already found the next chapter of the alvarezsaurid story there, and it is in the lab being prepared right now,” added Makovicky.

In addition to Makovicky and Apesteguía, the international team included Jonathan S. Mitchell from Coe College in Iowa; Jorge G. Meso and Ignacio Cerda from Instituto de Investigación, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro and Museo Provincial; and Federico A. Gianechini from Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis.

The research was supported by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), The Field Museum, National Geographic, University of Minnesota, United States National Science Foundation and the Fulbright U.S. Scholar program.

Read the full paper entitled, “Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade,” on the Nature website

Alnashetri was rapidly covered by an advancing sand dune that preserved it almost intact for 90 million years.

Credit

Peter Makovicky, University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Professor Peter Makovicky uncovers fossil bones at the La Buitrera fossil area.

Credit

Minyoung Son, University of Minnesota

Alnashetri animation [VIDEO] |

Alnashetri belongs to a group of bird-like dinosaurs, known as alvarezsaurs, that are famous for their tiny teeth and stubby arms ending in a single large thumb claw.

Credit

Universidad Nacional de Río Negro and University of Minneso

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-026-10194-3 

Article Title

Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade

Article Publication Date

25-Feb-2026

 

Wild fires are burning forest carbon sinks, but China bucking the trend with a massive desert forestation project

Forests used to be carbon sinks, but as wildfires expand due to global warming they are becoming a new source of CO2 emissions. China is bucking the trend with a massive desert forestation project. / bne IntelliNews

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By Ben Aris in Berlin February 13, 2026

Extreme weather has led to an explosion of deadly wildfires around the world that are turning forests that should be a CO₂ sink into major sources of additional emissions as the area that burns each year expands.

Europe saw a record million hectares of forest burn in 2025, the largest area ever, that turns wood that has been storing CO₂ for decades into gas again. The expansion of wildfires has become so acute that investors have been rushing to buy catastrophe bonds to cash in on the escalating costs caused by fires that can burn down cities and entire regions.

The problems are even worse in Latin America where land clearing for agriculture has been reducing the forested area. One of the few places where the trend is going in the opposite direction is China where the government has planted a massive “green belt” of new trees in the Taklamakan desert, turning the barren belt into a new carbon sink.

Already this year 23 people were left dead in Chile and devastated forests in Argentina burning some of the world’s oldest trees that have been storing carbon for centuries. Global warming causing extreme conditions have made fires about three times more likely, scientists have found.

Researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium concluded that the hot, dry and windy weather that allowed fires to spread across vast areas in January was significantly intensified by human-caused climate change, The Guardian reported on February 13. The study found that parts of Chile and Argentina are now experiencing markedly drier summers, with rainfall 25% lower in early summer in Chile and 20% lower in the affected region of Patagonia.

Severe wildfires placed Chile’s Biobío and Ñuble regions in a “state of catastrophe” in mid-January as blazes destroyed more than 1,000 homes and forced 52,000 residents to flee as temperatures exceeded 37°C and strong winds fanned the flames.

In Argentina, fires broke out in early January in the UNESCO-listed Los Alerces national park in Patagonia, home to ancient alerce trees that can live for more than 3,000 years. Scientists warned that such ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable to prolonged drought and heat linked to rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr Clair Barnes of Imperial College London, part of the WWA team, told the Guardian: “Our analysis shows a clear and dangerous fingerprint of climate change on these fires. By burning fossil fuels, we have essentially loaded the dice, making the conditions for these devastating blazes more likely.”

The situation in Chile was exacerbated by non-native tree plantations, which are more flammable than native forests and often located near populated areas. “These plantations are located directly next to settlements, as was seen in Valparaíso in 2024,” said Mauricio Santos-Vega of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Wildfires in Valparaíso and surrounding regions in 2024 left at least 131 people dead.

China tree-planting turns the Taklamakan desert into carbon sink

Mass tree planting around the fringes of China’s Taklamakan Desert has transformed parts of what was long considered a “biological void” into a net carbon sink, with vegetation now absorbing more carbon dioxide than the desert emits, according to new research.

The findings, reported by Live Science on February 11, suggest that decades of ecological engineering under Beijing’s Three-North Shelterbelt Programme — also known as the “Great Green Wall” — are beginning to alter the carbon balance of one of the world’s largest and driest deserts.

The Taklamakan Desert spans about 337,000 square kilometres, slightly larger than Montana, and is encircled by high mountain ranges that block moist air for most of the year. Over 95% of its surface is shifting sand. Since 1978, however, China has planted billions of trees along the margins of the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts in an effort to curb desertification. More than 66bn trees have been planted across northern China to date, and forest cover nationwide has risen from 10% in 1949 to more than 25% today. In 2024, China completed a vegetative belt encircling the Taklamakan.

Researchers analysed 25 years of ground observations and satellite data on vegetation cover, precipitation, photosynthesis and CO₂ fluxes, alongside modelling from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Carbon Tracker. The results, published on January 19 in PNAS, show expanding vegetation and rising CO₂ uptake along the desert’s edges, coinciding in time and location with the afforestation programme.

“We found, for the first time, that human-led intervention can effectively enhance carbon sequestration in even the most extreme arid landscapes, demonstrating the potential to transform a desert into a carbon sink and halt desertification,” said Yuk Yung, professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology and senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

During the wet season from July to September, precipitation averages about 16 millimetres per month — 2.5 times higher than in the dry season — boosting vegetation growth and photosynthesis. Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations over the desert fall from 416 parts per million in the dry season to 413 ppm in the wet season.

“Based on the results of this study, the Taklamakan Desert, although only around its rim, represents the first successful model demonstrating the possibility of transforming a desert into a carbon sink,” Yung said, adding that its role “may serve as a valuable model for other desert regions.”

Devastating wildfires in Argentina and Chile made three times more likely by climate change

Copyright AP Photo/Javier Torres, File

By Isabel Debre with AP

Published on 11/02/2026 - EURONEWS

Record droughts and scorching temperatures stoked the wildfires that burned thousands of hectares of native forest.

Human-caused climate change had an important impact on the recent ferocious wildfires that engulfed parts of Chile and Argentina's Patagonia region, making the extremely high-risk conditions that led to widespread burning up to three times more likely than in a world without global warming, a team of researchers warned on 11 February.

The hot, dry and gusty weather that fed last month's deadly wildfires in central and southern Chile was made around 200 per cent more likely by human-made greenhouse gas emissions while the high-fire-risk conditions that fuelled the blazes still racing through southern Argentina were made 150 per cent more likely, according to World Weather Attribution, a scientific initiative that investigates extreme weather events soon after they happen.

That probability will only increase as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and blanket the planet with more heat-trapping gases, researchers added.

The blazes that tore through Chile’s Biobio and Ñuble regions in mid-January killed 23 people, destroyed over 1,000 houses and other structures and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. All were caused by human activity, whether through arson or negligence.

In southern Argentina, the fires first ignited by lightning forced the evacuation of thousands of tourists and residents and burned through over 45,000 hectares of native forest, including vast swaths of the Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to 2,600-year-old trees.

Related

• ‘One of the most damaging decisions in modern history’: Trump EPA to repeal key climate finding
• Black carbon needs to be regulated to save the Arctic - but geopolitical tensions overshadow it

Finding human fingerprints on disasters

The study, confirming what had been widely suspected, brings the first scientific assessment of global warming's role in intensifying some of the most serious wildfire emergencies to grip Chile and Argentina in years.

It's the latest in an emerging subfield of climate science known as weather attribution, which is evolving rapidly in response to a growing thirst for public information about how climate change influences natural disasters.

The World Weather Attribution report has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, but it relies on widely accepted methods, including the analysis of data and computer model simulations to compare today’s climate with past weather patterns.

“Overall, we’re confident in saying that the main driver of this increased fire risk is human-caused warming,” Clair Barnes, a research associate with World Weather Attribution, said in a briefing with reporters. “These trends are projected to continue in the future as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels.”

Hot and dry forests become a tinderbox

Record droughts and scorching temperatures created conditions conducive to wildfires in Chile and Argentina, the study found, while single-species plantations of highly flammable trees like pines helped the fires spread more easily in both areas. The invasive species have replaced native, more fire-resistant ecosystems in the region, turning shrub, brush and grass into kindling.

In Argentina's Patagonia, the town of El Bolsón recorded its highest January temperature on record – 38.4 degrees Celsius. The town of Esquel, near Los Alerces National Park, logged 11 consecutive days of maximum temperatures in January, its second-longest heat wave in 65 years. Temperatures in Chile ahead of the fires were high but not record-breaking.

Related

• Cold Europe, burning south: January shows climate extremes at both ends of the planet

The researchers estimated that seasonal rainfall from November to January, before the peak burning period, was around 25 per cent weaker in Chile and 20 per cent less intense in Argentine Patagonia than it would have been without a rise in global temperatures of at least 1.3 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

“This, together with higher-than-average temperatures, led to vegetation being submitted to stress, very low humidity in the soil,” said Juan Antonio Rivera, an Argentine researcher and author of the study. “Once the wildfires began... there was sufficient fuel to extend and be sustained over time.”

Fewer resources makes an impact

Chile has increased its budget for fighting wildfires by 110 per cent in the last four years under left-wing President Gabriel Boric, improving fire forecasting and investing in new equipment.

But in Argentina, a harsh austerity program under libertarian President Javier Milei may have hobbled the country’s ability to respond to the fires, researchers said, citing budget cuts to firefighting crews, a lack of planning and deregulation of tourism activities in Patagonia’s national parks. It’s a claim echoed to news agency The Associated Press by firefighters, park rangers and officials involved in disaster relief.

Milei, like his ally US President Donald Trump, has denied that climate change is related to human presence. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday (11 February).

“Unfortunately, with a government that does not understand climate change and its connection to human activities, where nature is secondary in terms of priorities, these situations get worse and wildfires end up having greater impacts than they should,” said Rivera. “The situation is still not under control.”

 

Are returning Pumas putting Patagonian Penguins at risk? New study reveals the likelihood

University of Oxford

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A Magellanic penguin carcass showing signs of predation by puma at the Monte León National Park colony. Courtesy of © Joel Reyero 2024

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Credit: © Joel Reyero 2024

More images available via the link in the Notes

 Section

Summary:

• Some Argentinian penguins are experiencing high levels of predation from pumas recolonising their historical territory. A new study has quantified the risk on long-term penguin population survival.

• Over four years, pumas at a national park on the Argentinian Patagonia coast are thought to have killed over 7,000 adult penguins (7.6% of the colony’s adult population) – but left many uneaten.

• Long-term, however, puma predation alone is unlikely to threaten colony viability, while low breeding success and reduced juvenile survival appear to be greater threats to the survival of these penguins.

• The findings have been published today (5 February) in the Journal for Nature Conservation.

 

Should we protect an emblematic species if it may come at the cost of another one – particularly in ecosystems that are still recovering from human impacts? This is the conservation dilemma facing Monte Leon National Park, on the Patagonian coast in Argentina.

Since cattle ranching was abandoned in southern Argentina in 1990, pumas (Puma concolor) have been recolonising their historical ranges in this area. For the first time, this brought them in contact with Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) who had moved to the mainland from nearby islands due to the absence of terrestrial predators. Being largely defenceless, the penguins became an easy target for the large carnivore – but it was unknown up to now the exact impact the pumas were having on penguin population numbers.

Since its creation in 2004, researchers from the Centro de Investigaciones de Puerto Deseado of the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral and rangers from the Monte Leon National Park have monitored the penguin populations in the Park. Over four years (2007-2010), they counted the number of carcasses caused by puma predation. In the new study, they collaborated with researchers from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) to analyse the data.

Based on the numbers of penguins found killed, the research team estimated that more than 7,000 adult penguins were killed over the four-year study, most of which were not fully eaten, indicating that not all the penguins were killed for food. This is roughly 7.6% of the adult population (around 93,000 individuals).

Lead author Melisa Lera, a postgraduate student at WildCRU, Oxford University said: “The number of carcasses showing signs of predation we found in the colony is overwhelming, and the fact that they were left uneaten means pumas were killing more penguins than they required for food. This is consistent with what ecologists describe as ‘surplus killing’. It is comparable to what is seen in domestic cats when prey are abundant and/or vulnerable: ease of capture can lead to cats hunting more birds, even when they do not end up actually eating them. We needed to understand if the penguin colony’s persistence could be threatened due to this behaviour.”

However, when the team carried out modelling on the data, this indicated that pumas alone were unlikely to drive the colony at Monte León Park to extinction. Instead, the colony’s future appears to be far more sensitive to factors such as reproductive success and juvenile survival. Population extinction was projected only under hypothetical scenarios combining low juvenile survival (with around 20% failing to reach adulthood) and very low reproductive output (a maximum of one chick per pair). High puma predation was predicted to exacerbate these outcomes.

Study co-author Dr Jorgelina Marino (WildCRU, Oxford University) said: “This study captures an emerging conservation challenge, where recovering carnivores are encountering novel prey. Understanding how these dietary shifts affect both predators and prey is essential to inform conservation.”

Since the models identified breeding success and mortality of the juveniles as some of the key determinants of population viability, the authors highlight the need to understand how environmental factors such as nutrients, food and temperature - known to be influenced by climate change - may affect the penguins’ reproductive success.

As terrestrial predators continue to expand into coastal environments, further mainland colonies of seabirds and other coastal species may become vulnerable. For instance, non-native feral hogs are now key predators of loggerhead sea turtle eggs along the Georgia coast, USA, whilst coyotes in eastern North America are colonising coastal barrier islands, with impacts across these ecosystems.

The authors emphasise the need for sustained monitoring to detect demographic declines early and to guide management actions to prevent severe ecological consequences. The Park authorities continue to monitor Puma and Penguin populations.

---------------------------------

MLNP Website: Parque Nacional Monte León | Argentina.gob.ar

Notes to editors:

For media enquiries and interview requests, contact Melisa Lera, WildCRU, The University of Oxford, melilera9@gmail.com

The study ‘Shifting predator–prey dynamics at the land–sea interface: The case of Magellanic penguins and pumas’ will be published in Journal for Nature Conservation on Thursday, 5 February at 00:01 GMT/UTC, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2025.127208 To view a copy of the study before this under embargo, contact: Melisa Lera, WildCRU, The University of Oxford, melilera9@gmail.com

Images relating to this release that can be used in articles can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dErtmsaJKSuizI7oTxQ6V6YB_C8ewmF6?usp=sharing These are for editorial purposes relating to this press release ONLY and MUST BE credited (see captions file in folder). They MUST NOT be sold on to third parties.

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Infographic of the study's findings. 

Credit: Sarah Markes.

Fieldwork included counting carcasses and measuring body dimensions, to better assess the impacts of puma predation.

 © Esteban Frere 2007

An adult puma leaving the penguin nesting area, and a penguin lies dead behind it. (This study did not collar the pumas). 

Courtesy of © Joel Reyero 2024

\

A Magellanic penguin at the nest, built under bushes in Monte León National Park. Courtesy of © Joel Reyero 2024

Journal

Journal for Nature Conservation

DOI

10.1016/j.jnc.2025.127208 

Article Title

Shifting predator–prey dynamics at the land–sea interface: The case of Magellanic penguins and pumas