Trump backs huge Arizona copper mine as Apache win late reprieve to halt it

Los Angeles Times ^ | Aug. 21, 2025 3:51 PM PT | Kevin Rector

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• Trump called those opposing the mine ‘Anti-American’ and said the country needs copper ‘NOW!’

• Opponents of the mine, including the San Carlos Apache Tribe, said they will never stop fighting to protect the land.

President Trump this week threw his full support behind a massive project to turn a sacred Apache site outside Phoenix into one of the world’s largest copper mines, meeting with mining executives at the White House and ridiculing a recent court decision that temporarily halted the transfer of federal lands to their companies.

Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum met in the White House on Tuesday with several executives from Rio Tinto and BHP, the two multinational mining companies behind the planned Resolution Copper mine. As proposed, the mine would turn Oak Flat — a long-preserved site of rocky outcroppings and desert waterways on the edge of the Tonto National Forest — into a nearly 2-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep industrial crater.

Trump also posted about the project on his Truth Social site, calling the three-judge U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel that blocked the transfer a “Radical Left Court” and saying it was “sad” that “Radical Left Activists” could stall such a project.

“3,800 Jobs are affected, and our Country, quite simply, needs Copper — AND NOW!” Trump wrote.

He also wrote, without evidence, that those fighting the mine are “Anti-American” and working on behalf of “other Copper competitive Countries.”

The San Carlos Apache Tribe, which is among the plaintiffs suing to block the mine, called the court’s decision a “last minute victory” in its ongoing battle to save the land.

“The Apache people will never stop fighting for Chí’chil Biłdagoteel,” tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said in a statement, using the traditional Apache name for Oak Flat. “We thank the court for stopping this...”

[Fido969]

They’ll be bought out at some point.

[Fresh Wind]

Do they have their casinos yet?

[\/\/ayne]

A big problem is Canadian mining companies with incredibly obvious histories of corruption and polluting, hoaxing or financially abusing other countries they mine in.

Have a mine run by Americans who post a bond for toxic waste cleanup and Arizona will support it. Arizona is normally very gullible but even we are not that stupid.

[shanover]

They bend over backwards for their casinos and tax exemption but this is a problem? A mine like this worked out properly could change the fortunes of the poorest and most neglected people in the country. Every time I go to Florida the Seminole and Miccosukee nations /tribes are building new stuff via gambling revenue.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Indians and their gag that EVERYTHING IS SACRED is way overrated. BS.

[Gen.Blather]

They’re probably waiting for a cash offer. My guess is they have no legal right to sell and no legitimate financial interest in the mine.

[crusty old prospector]

Time to uncrate the fire water. Maybe some beads or wampum.

[j.havenfarm]

Sacred sites, blah, blah, blah. Can’t say I care too terribly much

[BenLurkin]

“The Apache people will never stop fighting for Chí’chil Biłdagoteel,”

https://www.lerctr.org/~transit/healy/blowit.wav

[Regulator]

Apaches are very smart business people and also ruthless.

There’s a reason every other tribe in the West was askeered of them except for the Comanche.

They don’t not want the mine. They want a cut. Majority ownership would do just fine.

[Racketeer]

Maybe Trump can offer an incentive for a successful Cherokee attack upon the Apache.

[shelterguy]

“””Indians and their gag that EVERYTHING IS SACRED is way overrated. BS.”””

I have worked on a lot of Indian Reservations. Rural ghettos. Most of them look like a landfill with houses on it. I could never leave anything on site because they would burn it. But the big shiny casino blocks the view of a lot of that.

[glorgau]

“sacred” apache site. What freaking nonsense.

[griswold3]

Heavy metal poisoning is essentially incurable and untreatable.

[dware]

his full support behind a massive project to turn a sacred Apache site outside Phoenix

Ok, but is it reservation land? If it is rez, I feel like we should keep to the treaty system. If its Federal land, which it sounds like to me, to bad, so sad. Feds can do as they please with it.

[Labyrinthos]

Trump is wrong on this one, but not because the Apaches are right. Resolution Copper is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Ltd. The CCP is the largest single shareholder of Rio Tinto.

https://azmirror.com/2025/08/21/court-stops-oak-flat-transfer-to-resolution-copper-in-emergency-order/

[Vaduz]

Copper is a cornerstone of Arizona’s history and economy. Since 1910, the state has been the nation’s leading producer of copper. Today, 68% of all the copper produced in the U.S. comes from Arizona.
Arizona & Copper

Resolution Copper
https://resolutioncopper.com

[kaktuskid]

That area is copper country..it is near the old Magma Mine and above the town of Superior. Globe and Miami are on the other side of that mountain. The Apache tribal lands are East of Globe.