A mining company is considering digging for copper on grazing land near the chapter house of the Coppermine community on the western Navajo Nation.
Local residents Loren Thomas and Elvira Nowlin told KNAU the mine could have detrimental impacts.
But those affiliated with Essential Minerals, the mining company conducting initial reconnaissance of the Coppermine area, say the mine would be safe. Essential Minerals is a subsidiary of Chakana Copper, a Canadian minerals exploration company that also has an operation in Peru.
Read the full story on KNAU.org →
More Tribal Natural Resources News
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The application for preliminary permits is Nature and People First's latest proposal for energy development on tribal land. The federal government denied a similar proposal by the company in 2024. -
The University of Arizona has recently released a new report highlighting the huge impacts of tribal agriculture throughout the Grand Canyon State — including 2,300 jobs and $750 million in total economic output statewide. -
The Quitobaquito tryonia is a tiny freshwater springsnail — no bigger than the size of a poppy seed — that can only be found inside Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona. -
Born in Chinle, Arizona, Kim Etsitty spends much of her year teaching science at Navajo Pine High School in New Mexico. That is, until summer recess — but she won’t be taking a break this year. -
![Interior Secretary Doug Burgum [right] and Southern Ute Indian Chairman Melvin Baker ink the first-ever Tribal Energy Resource Agreement on May 11, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e389544/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5120x2853+0+280/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff2%2Fc6%2Fa2c5a96f4513a12c674f76c63de9%2Fdoug-burgum-southern-ute-indian-tribe-tera-signing-20260511.jpg)
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe in southwest Colorado sitting above the border of New Mexico has entered the first-ever TERA — or Tribal Energy Resource Agreement — more than two decades after Congress enacted the law.
![Interior Secretary Doug Burgum [right] and Southern Ute Indian Chairman Melvin Baker ink the first-ever Tribal Energy Resource Agreement on May 11, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b9a83a0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5120x2853+0+280/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff2%2Fc6%2Fa2c5a96f4513a12c674f76c63de9%2Fdoug-burgum-southern-ute-indian-tribe-tera-signing-20260511.jpg)