Trump to approve land swap for Rio Tinto copper mine opposed by Native Americans
By Ernest Scheyder
April 18, 2025
- Forest Service to republish environmental report within 60 days
- Publication needed to approve land swap for Resolution project
- Native groups oppose project on religious grounds
- Related case still pending at Supreme Court
"The #Trump administration said on Thursday it would approve a land swap needed for #RioTinto and #BHP to build one of the world's largest copper mines, despite concerns from Native Americans that it would destroy a site of religious value.
The move is likely to escalate tensions between Indigenous groups vocal about the need to preserve historical lands and Western governments eager to boost critical minerals production and offset China's sector dominance.
"The U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the Agriculture Department, said it will republish within 60 days an environmental report needed for the #ResolutionCopper project land swap to occur.
"Congress and then-President #BarackObama approved the mine in 2014 after it was added at the last minute to a must-pass military funding bill [#NDAA] with the condition that an environmental report be published.
"The underground mine - which President Donald Trump approved in his first term before successor Joe Biden reversed him - would supply more than a quarter of U.S. appetite for copper and be a key part of Trump's plan to boost U.S. mining.
"Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The United States imports roughly half of its copper needs each year.
"Yet the mine's construction would cause a crater that would swallow the Oak Flat site where Arizona's San Carlos Apache worship. That has fueled strong opposition from all but one of the state's 22 Native American tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.
"Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists, asked the U.S. Supreme Court last September to block the land swap. The court has not yet decided whether to take that case.
Were the court to do so, however, the Forest Service said on Thursday it 'may reevaluate how to proceed' regarding the land swap.
" 'The U.S. government is rushing to give away our spiritual home before the courts can even rule, just like it's rushed to erase Native people for generations,' said #WendslerNosie, an #ApacheStronghold leader."
#Apaches #WesternApaches #NativeAmericans #SacredSite #ResolutionCopper #SaveOakFlat #ChichilBiłdagoteel #CorporateColonialism #ProtectOakFlat #ReaderSupportedNews #SCOTUS #DefendTheSacred #CopperMine
#WaterIsLife #CulturalGenocide #WesternApache #SacredSites #NoMiningWithoutConsent #RecycleCopper #TontoNationalForest
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