USA: Court of Appeals authorises Oak Flat land transfer to Resolution Copper, allowing copper mine on Apache sacred site
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“Resolution Copper to start drilling at Oak Flat after court decision”
Resolution Copper told the U.S. Supreme Court it would begin exploratory drilling in the Oak Flat area on March 16 after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a bid from a coalition of environmentalists, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a group of Apache women to halt a contentious land exchange.
The three-judge panel issued its decision late Friday, March 13.
The appeals court denied an injunction in three cases, blocking a legal move that could have halted progress on the handover of the 2,200-acre site and another 211 acres currently within Tonto National Forest to Resolution…
The judges turned the three down because they said the cases were "unlikely to succeed on the merits."
The Forest Service issued the final record of decision March 16 finalizing the land exchange.
Resolution now owns Oak Flat, a location sacred to the Apaches and other Native people.
…[O]ne of the attorneys representing the Brown-Lopez family and other Apache women, said the firm filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court over the weekend.