A controversial land swap would allow Resolution Copper to access a multi-billion dollar ore deposit beneath public lands nestled in the Tonto National Forest. But a federal judge is ordering the U.S. Forest Service to release new details about that pending deal.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Friday the Forest Service violated the Freedom of Information Act by redacting information that should have been publicly disclosed in a pair of reports appraising the 2014 land exchange authorized by Congress.
“The longer that the agencies refuse to give it to us, the more suspicious we are of what it says,” said Marc Fink, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “You know, that’s often how it works.”
They filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service, but the mining company intervened, with Fink adding “they’re fighting this, definitely taking the position that none of this information should be disclosed to the public or the tribes.”
If the land exchange is finalized, Resolution Copper would obtain about 2,400 acres of public lands where a 1.4 billion metric ton copper ore body sits. This site, known as Oak Flat, is culturally significant to nearly a dozen tribes in the Southwest.
Some even consider it sacred.
U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Trump appointee, determined the federal agency must conduct another line-by-line review of the two documents to ensure it has released “all reasonably segregable non-exempt information.”
“How could the public weigh in on this,” asked Fink, who also serves as director of the Public Lands Law Center, “and similarly, how are the tribes supposed to engage in good faith consultation if the government won’t give them the appraisal the land exchange was based on?”
Court documents reveal the appraisals were finished in 2023.
“We’ve been suing the Forest Service for years now to try to get their appraisal, which is done,” said Robin Silver, co-founder of the Tucson-headquartered nonprofit. “They don’t want to give it up because it’s too embarrassing.”
The Phoenix-based Joseph Appraisals Group was hired by the Center for Biological Diversity to assess about 5,400 acres spanning eight parcels that Resolution Copper has agreed to transfer to the Forest Service.
They came up with a $7 million evaluation in 2020.
With President Donald Trump signing a March executive order to increase domestic mineral production, Fink suggests the clock is ticking for Oak Flat.
“All we can do is make our best case to the judge as to why we need the information as soon as possible,” he added. “But of course, it’s always hard to say how long the government thinks they’re going to need to do something.”
The Forest Service is aware of the recent ruling and will be reviewing, while Resolution Copper told KJZZ it’s pleased that the court is allowing some of the multinational mining company’s proprietary information to remain shielded.
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The nonprofit Apache Stronghold has argued its religious freedom case all the way to the highest court in the land. On Friday, the nine justices are meeting in conference once again, and an answer may arrive as soon as Monday. -
Resolution Copper is betting on gaining access to a large and lucrative copper ore east of Phoenix. A lot of money has already been invested in the project – over $2 billion – and opponents say some of it has been used to buy influence. -
Resolution Copper wants to dig up a massive amount of copper ore beneath Oak Flat inside the Tonto National Forest. And by doing so, a site that some Apaches consider sacred may be destroyed. -
While Resolution Copper is taking a proactive approach to meet its tremendous water needs, their actions may still have a lasting and severe impact on the local hydrological landscape around Oak Flat. -
While they’re not mining yet, Resolution Copper is slowly digging its way toward the lucrative ore. In fact, the site is already home to the deepest single-lift mine shaft in North America, and KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio goes thousands of feet underground to see it for himself. -
Discovered in Arizona’s Copper Triangle, Oak Flat is home to one of the richest copper deposits in the world. But the battle to mine there — about 60 miles east of Phoenix — has been bogged down by decades of politics. -
Oak Flat — an area east of the Valley — may soon be home to a massive copper mine. It holds cultural and spiritual significance to many Apaches, whose ancestors were forced off the land by the U.S. military. -
Watch a KJZZ panel discussion about Oak Flat — an area sacred to generations of Apaches that may soon be home to one of the largest copper mines in the world.
