Overview

• The court’s order turns away a last-minute bid by Apache Stronghold to challenge the transfer of Tonto National Forest land for mining.
• The decision removes the final judicial barrier to a 2014 congressional land swap granting 3.75 square miles to Resolution Copper, a Rio Tinto–BHP joint venture.
• Resolution Copper projects the mine could yield about 40 billion pounds of copper, supplying roughly 25% of U.S. demand and generating $1 billion annually for Arizona.
• Environmental studies warn that excavation will create a nearly two-mile-wide crater that will destroy sites used for Apache sweat lodge ceremonies and the Sunrise Ceremony.
• Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented, calling the refusal to hear the case a “grievous mistake” that fails to safeguard Apaches’ religious freedom.