Long-Litigated Massive Arizona Copper Mine Could Break Ground in Early 2026

Resolution Copper’s 7,000-acre mine, to include a 1.8-mile-wide open pit, clears key hurdle with Supreme Court refusing for second time to hear legal challenge.

A Resolution Copper facility in Superior, Ariz., on March 30, 2021. Caitlin O'Hara/Reuters

With the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear a last-ditch appeal, a long-planned Arizona copper mine could break ground in early 2026 and, once fully operational, supply up to 25 percent of the nation’s domestic demand for the critical mineral.

For the second time in five months, the high court on Oct. 6 denied Apache Stronghold’s petition to hear its lawsuit challenging a land exchange that Resolution Copper needs to build a 7,000-acre copper mine near Superior in Pinal County, 70 miles east of Phoenix and 70 miles north of Tucson, in Arizona’s “Copper Triangle.”

The swap would allow Resolution Copper to trade 5,400 acres of conservation land that it owns in Arizona for 2,422 acres within Tonto National Forest that the company estimates contains up to 40 billion pounds of high-grade copper worth $150 billion. The land transfer was originally approved by President Barack Obama and endorsed by Congress in 2014.

Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit representing the Western Apache and the 16,800-member San Carlos Apache Tribe, objected because the national forest land includes Oak Flat, or Chí’chil Biłdagoteel—a “Flat with Acorn Trees”—where tribes have practiced religious ceremonies for centuries.

Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Apache Stronghold argued that the copper mine would destroy Oak Flat, which it maintains is protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, in lawsuits challenging the land transfer since 2021.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in March 2023 determined that the swap did not violate the act by imposing a “substantial burden” on Apache religious practices.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in an unsigned May 27 order. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented. Justice Samuel Alito recused himself.

Gorsuch wrote in his 17-page dissent, “Just imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on so questionable a chain of legal reasoning. I have no doubt we would find that case worth our time.”

The U.S. Forest Service published the Final Environmental Impact Statement, stymied by pending litigation since 2021, and draft Record of Decision, on June 25, initiating two 60-day windows for review and comments.

On Aug. 18, the Ninth Circuit appeals court issued a temporary injunction suspending the review to “preserve the status quo” while the Supreme Court pondered a new hearing petition by Apache Stronghold based on its June 27 ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor that sided with parents seeking to opt elementary school children out of engaging with LGBT books in the classroom.

However, the court apparently didn’t see relevance in that ruling and Apache Stronghold’s case.

On the last of 39 pages in its Oct. 6 orders, the court stated: “The petition for rehearing is denied. Justice Gorsuch would grant the petition for rehearing. Justice Alito took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.”

Apache Stronghold said in a statement that it “will continue pressing our case in the lower courts,” noting that three other lawsuits are challenging the transfer with the Ninth Circuit appeals court to hear oral arguments in one proceeding on Jan. 7, 2026.

“We’ll also keep urging Congress, the President, and federal agencies to stop the destruction of Oak Flat and protect our ancestral sacred land,” it stated. “Oak Flat deserves the same respect and protection this country has long given to other places of worship.

A U.S. Forest Service illustration shows the 5,400 acres of conservation land that Resolution Copper wants to exchange for 2,422 acres within Tonto National Forest in Arizona, where the company wants to build a 7,000-acre copper mine, with an inset highlighting the Oak Flat area that the Western Apache say is a sacred religious site. U.S. Forest Service

Priority Project

It was uncertain on Oct. 9 when, or if, the Ninth Circuit will lift its injunction to restart the review and comment period on the Forest Service’s June 25 Final Environmental Impact Statement and draft Record of Decision.

Resolution Copper’s plan, which calls for a 1.8-mile-wide, 1,100-foot deep open pit and a 3-mile-long, 500-foot-tall dam to access a copper deposit nearly 7,000 feet below the surface, needs approval from the Arizona State Mine Inspector’s Office and state water, air quality, waste, and reclamation permits.

Under the most accelerated timelines, Resolution Copper could break ground in February or March of 2026.

But the company did not speculate in an emailed response to queries from The Epoch Times.

“We are pleased the Court has once again reaffirmed that the Ninth Circuit’s decision will stand,” Resolution Copper said in a statement without addressing when the project, which it says will create 3,700 jobs and “add $1 billion a year to Arizona’s economy,” will begin.

“The Resolution Copper mine is vital to securing America’s energy future, infrastructure needs, and national defense with a domestic supply of copper and other critical minerals,” it stated.

Copper, silver, potash, silicon, rhenium, and lead are recommended by the U.S. Geological Survey for inclusion on the nation’s critical minerals list, which on Sept. 26 closed its 30-day public comment period and is set for adoption by year’s end.

According to the New York-based Copper Development Association, the United States “faces a ‘copper gap’ where its domestic mining and processing can’t meet demand, despite having sufficient resources, due to slow permitting and limited refining infrastructure.”

In 2024, the association documented that U.S. copper consumption was 1.6 million tons, with 1.2 million tons domestically mined—70 percent of it in Arizona—and 585,000 tons smelted. S&P Global projects that U.S. demand for copper will double by 2035 to 3.5 million tons.

There are at least seven U.S. copper projects on tap: one in California, two in Michigan, and four in Arizona, including Resolution Copper, one of 10 “first wave” projects approved for accelerated review in April by the federal Permitting Council following a March executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The United States also has limited refining capacity, with its only two copper smelters in Arizona: the Freeport-McMoRan plant in Miami, Arizona, near the San Carlos Apache Reservation, and the ASARCO’ plant in Hayden, closed since a 2020 labor strike.

Resolution Copper is jointly owned by two of the world’s largest multi-national, publicly traded mining corporations. Resolution Copper Company, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto PLC, owns 55 percent of Resolution, and BHP Copper Inc. owns 45 percent.

London-based Rio Tinto operates in 35 countries and has more than 60,000 employees. The Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chinalco), a Chinese state-owned company, is its largest single shareholder, holding about 14 percent of its stock.

BHP, with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, operates mines in Australia, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Canada, and the United States and has more than 90,000 employees.