March 1, 2012

PV-Tech.org 

The 127MW Arlington Valley Solar Energy II Project is now underway. LS Power has announced it has completed financing and authorized the construction of the US$550 million installation. It is to be built on more than 1,100 acres of land and operational in 2013.

The financing combines a long-term institutional financing led by Prudential Capital Group with a shorter term bank financing led by Banco Santander GE Energy Financial Services, who is participating in the solar project as an equity partner.

Zentric awarded EPC contract for 20 MW Arizona PV plant
March 21, 2012
Solar Server

Zentric has secured modules for the project, as well as providing EPC services

On March 20th, 2012 Zentric Inc. (South Melbourne, Australia) announced that it has signed an agreement with Matinee Energy Inc. (Southern Highlands, Nevada, U.S.) to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for a 20 MW-DC solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the U.S. state of Arizona.

The plant will be part of a 120 MW-DC PV project in Benson, Arizona. Zentric has established Zen Power Inc. as a Nevada corporation to manage the agreement, and has also secured 20 MW of PV modules from an un-named Chinese PV manufacturer.
 

Rosemont, still awaiting permits, wins extension on $43M loan repayment
March 11, 2012
Arizona Daily Star  

With its timetable for building the Rosemont Mine pushed back by permitting issues, Rosemont Copper's parent company has gotten a one-year extension on its deadline to repay a $43 million loan for the project.

The extension of the two-year-old loan from the British hedge fund RK Mine Management Fund pushes the repayment deadline for Augusta Resource Corp. back from April 22 of this year to April 14, 2013, or when all senior debt financing is closed on the nearly $1 billion Rosemont Mine - whichever comes first. 

Eastern AZ Copper Mine to Build New Concentrator

March 15th, 2012

FOX 10 - KSAZ   

MORENCI, Ariz. (AP) - The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has issued an air-quality permit to build a new concentrator at the Morenci copper mine in eastern Arizona.

The department gave the permit to Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and says the expanded operations could add up to 600 permanent jobs at the mine and as many as 1,400 construction jobs to build the concentrator.

The department says that the permit requires high-efficiency dust filters to be installed in the new concentrator to reduce particulate-matter emissions.

The mine also will retrofit emission points of existing equipment with the new dust collectors.

Tucson Medical Center's expansion is 'a big operation'

March 16, 2012

Inside Tucson Business  

"This is a very exciting time for TMC. We're building a world-class surgery center and the technology will help us attract the next generation of physicians coming in," said Letson.

As soon as he said it, Mike Letson was a bit embarrassed by his inadvertent pun. In his enthusiasm while giving a tour of of Tucson Medical Center's towering new addition, he blurted out: "For a city like Tucson, this is a big deal. We don't see many buildings like this going up, it's a big operation."

Barrett-Jackson to build permanent $40 million facility in Scottsdale

March 25, 2012

Autoblog.com 

The massive tent at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale auction is an impressive sight. Occupying 120,000 square feet and stretching a quarter mile, it sufficiently houses the hundreds of collector cars and thousands of visitors that pass through it every January. Even so, the tent needs to be rebuilt annually, and the auction company has been pushing for a permanent facility for more than a decade. Now it looks like their wish will be granted, as the Scottsdale, AZ city council has approved construction of a new building on the WestWorld grounds where the current event is held.  

Contractors want lower impact fees in south county

March 30, 2012

YumaSun.com  

The building industry in south Yuma County remains in a slump that could either be helped or made worse, depending on how Somerton and San Luis, Ariz., choose to impose impact fees on new construction in the future.

That's the message of developers and contractors as those cities and Wellton contract for a study that could lead to a new schedule of fees, which are one-time charges assessed on construction to cover the cost of providing sewer, water, police protection and other municipal services to new development.