SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appellate court has put a temporary hold on development of a copper mine planned for the Superior area.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has granted injunctive relief to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, temporarily halting the land transfer that would allow for development of the Resolution Copper Mine.
Opening briefs on the appeals are due to the court by Sept. 8, answering briefs by Sept. 29 and optional reply briefs by Oct. 14.
The San Carlos Tribe has maintained that a copper mine at Oak Flat will violate an 1852 treaty with the Apache as well as well as the First Amendment right to worship, claiming Oak Flat is sacred ground.
“This proposed mine is a rip-off, will destroy a sacred area, decimates our environment, threatens our water rights, and is bad for America. I am willing to sit down with the Trump administration and provide factual information to protect American interests,” San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler wrote on social media.
Meanwhile on Truth Social, President Trump said those who oppose the mine are “anti-American,” and represent “other copper competitive countries.”
“We can’t continue to allow this to happen to the U.S.A.,” Trump wrote.
Oak Flat is part of more than 2,400 acres of land in the Tonto National Forest that Congress approved in 2014 to swap for 5,400 acres of land offered by Rio Tinto, the developers of the proposed Resolution Copper Mine.
The land transfer had wide bipartisan support in Congress, spearheaded by the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., who was serving in Arizona First Congressional District at the time, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. It was introduced as part of a defense bill that was signed by former President Obama.
