The federal government will proceed with plans to develop a copper mine at a Native American religious site, claiming the effort is \u201ccrucial\u201d to meeting the \u201cgrowing demand for critical minerals\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Indigenous advocates of the Oak Flat site, meanwhile, are vowing to continue fighting against the effort to obliterate what they say is a \u201choly place\u201d and the \u201cspiritual lifeblood\u201d of Apaches.<\/p>\n
Since 2021, the coalition group Apache Stronghold has been fighting the sale of the Arizona site to Resolution Copper, a British-Australian mining company.<\/p>\n
The group has argued that the planned land transfer to the multinational company violates U.S. religious freedom law and threatens Native American traditions dating back centuries.<\/p>\n
The battle against the sale \u2014 which advocates argue violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act \u2014 made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in May 2025 ultimately refused to halt the transfer<\/a>. Advocates lost another bid at the Supreme Court in October 2025.<\/a><\/p>\n On March 23 the U.S. Department of Justice said<\/a> its Environment and Natural Resources Division had secured a \u201cmajor win\u201d in the push to develop the site.<\/p>\n The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court\u2019s order to allow the sale to proceed, allowing the government to \u201cproceed with a congressionally mandated land exchange crucial to advancing development of one of the largest known copper deposits in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The mining project \u201cwill play an important role in developing a stable, domestic copper supply,\u201d the government said. <\/p>\n Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold told EWTN News in a statement on March 25 that the group \u201cwill never stop fighting to protect Oak Flat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our spiritual lifeblood \u2014 the place where generations of Apache have gathered to worship, pray, and connect with our Creator,\u201d the activist said. \u201cThe federal government and Resolution Copper want to wipe Oak Flat off the map and sever our connection with this holy place forever. But we will never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will keep defending what is holy. We will continue pressing forward in the lower courts and urging America\u2019s leaders to protect Oak Flat before it is too late,\u201d Nosie said.<\/p>\n The Native American coalition garnered support from Catholic leaders in its effort to halt the sale of the site. In 2024, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops joined an amicus brief<\/a>, arguing that lower court decisions allowing the sale of Oak Flat represented \u201ca grave misunderstanding\u201d of religious freedom law.<\/p>\n The Knights of Columbus similarly filed a brief in support of the Apaches<\/a>, arguing that the decision to allow the property to be mined applies an \u201catextual constraint\u201d to federal religious freedom law with \u201cno grounding in the statute itself.\u201d<\/p>\n