Resolution Copper Would Hugely Benefit Pinal County

Munoz, a former miner, is convinced the project will be an environmental and economic disaster for the area.

“Do you have to destroy a town’s drinking water just so that somebody in New York could drive an electric car?” asked the 68-year-old.

Roughly 2,000 miles away, a high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm agrees, but for different reasons. The Becket Fund, known for championing conservative causes, is representing a group of local Apaches who argue the mine will cause “irreparable destruction of a centuries-old sacred site” and prevent them from practicing their religion.

The opposition coalition includes other Native American tribes, Christian groups, environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts.

The resistance is countered by powerful forces who argue the mine is critical to the energy transition away from fossil fuels, and to keep the U.S. competitive with China in the race to acquire metals such as copper, lithium and nickel.

Many state and local officials back the project, called Resolution Copper, which has been under development by industry giants Rio Tinto and BHP Group for around 20 years.

“We do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past” as the U.S. pursues mining projects such as Resolution, said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, on the sidelines of a Houston energy conference earlier this year. The administration wants to ensure “we are not mining on sacred sites, that tribes receive community benefits from what they are doing.”

If Donald Trump is re-elected, his administration would likewise confront a possible face-off with religious conservatives if it continues supporting the project.

Around the world, mineral resources are getting harder to find and costlier to dig up—few more so than copper.

Copper is arguably the most critical metal for an energy transition, used widely in electric cars and renewable energy and at quantities significantly higher than in conventional vehicles and power generation. Prices for the metal are near a record high. Copper was at the heart of BHP’s roughly $50 billion takeover bid for rival Anglo American, which was rejected in May.

The proposed tie-up reflected an accepted reality: It is cheaper and simpler for a company to buy existing copper mines than build new ones, with political, social and environmental hurdles for new projects higher than ever. It is taking more than two decades on average for a copper project to go from discovery to production, the Saudi Arabia-based International Energy Forum said in a recent report, as it raised concerns about future supplies.

The companies say Resolution would be a world-class project. They say they have invested in an extensive monitoring network for groundwater, springs and other bodies of water that will be checked by regulators and a community working group.

Rio Tinto said it would follow a United Nations principle to get consent from indigenous groups. But there is no clear definition for what consent means and who should give it. Resolution’s owners are trying to honor that commitment by consulting and joining with local tribes in good faith for the duration of the project, said Gare Smith, a lawyer who focuses on human rights and advises the project’s owners.

The Resolution project sits a few miles from Superior in Arizona’s Copper Triangle, a mountainous stretch of roughly 250 square miles an hour’s drive east of Phoenix.

The shaft leading to the mine is surrounded by the reddish rock formations and scrub-covered hills of Tonto National Forest, including a piece of land called Oak Flat. The copper deposit is several thousand feet under Oak Flat.

That is where 65-year-old Wendsler Nosie Sr., a member of the San Carlos tribe and founder of the Apache Stronghold group, has been camping out for the past few years. The land has been used for centuries by local tribes and is sacred to them, he said—although that view isn’t held by all Apaches.

“It’s time to protect the sovereignty of Mother Earth, because everything comes from her,” Nosie said on a chilly May morning, dressed in cargo pants, a “Save Oak Flat” T-shirt, a bandanna and fingerless gloves—all black.

Nosie has fought to defend his religious rights before, including in the late 1990s when he went to the top of a mountain he considered holy to pray, and he was arrested for trespassing. He was acquitted.

These days, Apache Stronghold’s alliance with the Becket Fund has brought a host of new religious allies, 150 of whom joined a November “Prayer Rising” at Oak Flat. Scores of religious groups have also submitted amicus briefs supporting Apache Stronghold’s suit, including organizations representing Mennonites, Seventh Day Adventists, Sikhs and Muslims.

“It’s hard to imagine a more egregious violation of religious liberty than the government knowingly, intentionally and callously blasting a Native American sacred site into oblivion,” said Luke Goodrich, a Becket senior counsel and the chief lawyer on the Apache Stronghold case.

The nonprofit law firm has several conservative Christian jurists on its board, including Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society.

The San Carlos tribe, which occupies a 1.8 million-acre territory to the east of the Copper Triangle, has its own, separate lawsuit to halt the mine.

Other local tribes are attracted by potential economic benefits in a state where the tribal poverty rate is 29%. Among the ones with ties to Oak Flat, most have at some time officially opposed the mine.

But many tribes have also been signing confidential agreements with Resolution for long-term benefits if the mine starts operations, said Vicky Peacey, Resolution’s president. Those could encompass anything from working with Resolution on water preservation to developing a cement and sand business.

At the White Mountain Apache tribe, Resolution has helped with scholarships as well as funding for a baseball field and equipment to produce water using solar power.

The White Mountain Apache will always officially support the San Carlos tribe in opposing the mine, said Jerold Altaha, a former White Mountain tribal council member. But members are also meeting with Resolution representatives and discussing benefits the tribe might get should the mine move forward.

“I know for myself, I would like to learn more about what’s actually taking place, what to expect, so that I could make better decisions in the future,” he said.

The Copper Triangle’s mineral wealth hasn’t historically translated into prosperity for the region as copper booms and busts shook local economies. The years of mining have left vast open-pit mines, hills of mine waste and depopulated towns along the area’s highways.

The Magma copper mine, which started operation in Superior in the early 1900s, was halted in 1982 as copper prices plummeted. Superior’s population fell from more than 5,000 in 1970 to around 2,400 as of the latest census in 2020.

Munoz had been working at the mine at the time. He had a wife, son and new mortgage. When he was laid off, he sold some cars he had been restoring and his son’s motorbike. He went on unemployment and food stamps.

Munoz got a job at a BHP copper mine but was laid off a second time when it closed in 1999. He went to work at a nearby state prison.

By that time, geologists had found traces of the big, deep copper deposit that Resolution is now trying to develop.

Resolution Copper’s money and interests increasingly dominate Superior. In 2016, four of the town council’s seven members had ties to Resolution that were significant enough to trigger the state’s conflict-of-interest laws. Three years later, Resolution agreed to give Superior $2 million toward a civic center, an amount equivalent to more than half the town’s annual revenue.

Superior Mayor Mila Besich estimates Resolution has spent at least $10 million on assistance for the town over the years, and pledged funds for facilities, hiking trails and campgrounds that will help the town build up a tourism industry so it doesn’t have to rely on copper. Many of those plans are in limbo, Besich said, until the mine is approved.

Besich reckons the pressure of the energy transition means the mine will eventually be greenlighted—even though it could take another 10 or 20 years before it opens.

“The world’s economy is not going to support this ore body staying in the ground,” she said.