Arizona copper mining legal battle Image By EPN staff Key Points A massive copper deposit in Arizona has been tied up in a 20-year legal fight between mining companies and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, with a federal appeals court recently blocking a land transfer needed to advance the project. The Oak Flat deposit could supply up to 25% of U.S. copper demand, supporting renewable energy and electric vehicles, but critics argue companies would profit without paying significant royalties while destroying sacred land and harming the environment. The U.S. is a major copper producer but relies heavily on global supply chains; Chile leads world production, while China dominates refining and owns stakes in the companies behind the Oak Flat project. One of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits likely sits 7,000 feet below a rocky Arizona landscape. Mining companies and an American Indian tribe have fought over control of the mine for two decades in court, and in August a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a land transfer that would have opened up the reserves for mining. The Oak Flat deposit is estimated to have 1.8 billion metric tons of the ore, enough to supply up to a quarter of U.S. demand. It was discovered in 2004, and for most of the last 20 years there’s been a legal fight over getting to the copper by opening what The Los Angeles Times describes as “a nearly 2-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep industrial crater.” An American Indian tribe considers the land sacred and is fighting a federal land swap that's key to the deal. The federal appeals court decision to block a land transfer in August prompted President Donald Trump to call the tribe and anyone else fighting the mine “anti-American.” “Our Country, quite simply, needs Copper — AND NOW!” Trump said on social media. Why it matters Copper has a massive and long-standing role in the world economy. The industry employs more than a million people, according to the International Copper Association, It is considered to be the safest widely available substance for electrical wiring and is necessary for solar and wind generation systems. Electric vehicles use up to four times more copper than conventional cars, according to the World Economic Forum. The International Energy Agency predicts demand for copper will increase steadily through 2040 while anticipated supplies dwindle. But the 20-year saga around the Oak Flat deposit in the Tonto National Forest shows how difficult it can be to tap new domestic reserves. The bigger picture The United States is already a significant copper producer in the world, though production has fallen in recent years. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated 2024 U.S. production at 1.1 million tons, which would be worth about $10 billion. Arizona was, by far, the top producing state, accounting for some 70% of the output, but copper is also mined in Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. There are about 25 mines in total, according to the USGS. Worldwide, Chile dominates the market, producing some 27% of the world’s copper, followed by Peru, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Economic Forum reported in 2022. Nearly 50% of copper refining, though, takes place in China, according to the International Energy Agency. In fact, much of the copper mined in the United States is shipped to China, and a Chinese company is the largest shareholder for the international companies that want to mine the Oak Flat deposit (Rio Tinto and BHP), according to The Arizona Republican. Additional detail The appeals court opinion came down Aug. 19, and Resolution Copper - the joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP - said it should be “a temporary pause” for an effort that has already passed extensive environmental reviews and will have a $1 billion annual economic impact in Arizona. Trump met with the mine’s owners shortly after the decision. A spokesman for the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which is fighting the mine, said in response that the companies want to “dig up $160 billion in copper and, under current law, pay almost no royalties.” “This proposed mine is a rip-off, will destroy a sacred area, decimates our environment, threatens our water rights, and is bad for America,” he said.
