Overview

• The Supreme Court’s refusal on May 27 upholds a 2014 congressional land swap that transfers 2,422 acres of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper for mining.
• Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented, warning the decision abandons Western Apache religious protections by permitting the site’s destruction.
• Oak Flat, regarded by Western Apaches as a direct corridor to the Creator, would be obliterated by a two-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep crater created through panel-carving mining.
• Resolution Copper, the Rio Tinto–BHP joint venture, estimates the mine could yield about 40 billion pounds of copper, generating roughly $1 billion annually and thousands of Arizona jobs.
• The U.S. Forest Service has issued a 60-day notice to reissue the environmental impact statement, a key procedural step before finalizing the land transfer.