Apache Tribe takes battle against Resolution Copper to the US Supreme Court

A “new source” provision would impose the most stringent Clean Water Act regulations on the proposed copper mine, and Resolution would have to demonstrate to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) that Queen Creek can return to compliance with clean water standards even with additional discharges .

However, an “existing source” designation would allow Resolution to discharge copper-contaminated water into Queen Creek without meeting the strictest protections of the Clean Water Act.

The ADEQ had previously treated the resolution as an “existing source,” which was later confirmed by the Maricopa County Superior Court. The Apache Tribe subsequently fought and won its case in the Arizona Court of Appeals in 2022.

However, the Arizona Supreme Court's June 2024 decision sided with the ADEQ decision, handing Resolution a major victory in its bid to mine the approximately 40 billion pounds of copper metal. According to the court, the ruling was based on Resolution's plans to reuse a small number of tunnels and mine shafts that the Magma Copper Company had built for an abandoned mine that was exhausted in 1996.

In its statement, the Apache Tribe said the Arizona Supreme Court made “an egregious error” when it ruled that Resolution Copper could avoid compliance with the most stringent provisions of the Clean Water Act.

“It is absurd to consider Resolution an existing source when most of Resolution's mining operations have yet to be built and the copper vein is a mile underground and has never been mined,” said Terry Rambler, the tribe's chairman.

“The Arizona Supreme Court has gone to the trouble of acting as if Resolution’s largely undeveloped mining operations somehow already existed,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a separate petition, the nonprofit group Apache Stronghold is also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution, arguing that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects their right to worship at the sacred site.

The Resolution Copper project suffered numerous setbacks for years due to fierce opposition from the Apache tribe. Once built, it would supply more than a quarter of America's copper needs for decades.

The CEO of Rio Tinto recently said in a Bloomberg Interview that the company is aiming for first production by the end of this decade.