By Nick Toscano
The chief executives of Australia’s two biggest mining companies, BHP and Rio Tinto, have met US President Donald Trump to discuss their controversial proposal to build a giant copper mine on sacred Native American land.
Resolution Copper – a joint venture 55 per cent owned by Rio Tinto and 45 per cent by BHP – has been vying to develop America’s largest untapped copper deposit in the state of Arizona, which could supply up to a quarter of US copper demand for 40 years.
Incoming Rio Tinto chief executive Simon Trott (left), outgoing Rio boss Jakob Stausholm, US President Donald Trump, BHP chief executive Mike Henry and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in the Oval Office.Credit: Molly Riley/The White House
However, the mine is being fiercely opposed by one of the Native American tribes within the project area, the 17,000-member San Carlos Apache tribe, which fears the impact on sacred and actively utilised religious land at Oak Flat, known as Chi’chil Bildagoteel.
On Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), Rio Tinto chief Jakob Stausholm, his incoming replacement Simon Trott and BHP boss Mike Henry had a meeting with Trump and other White House officials in Washington.
The discussion centred on miners’ ability to unlock long-term supplies of copper, a key building block for renewable energy, electric cars, powerlines and data centres – and a progress update on the Resolution Copper project, a Rio Tinto spokesperson said.
In a post on social media, BHP’s Henry thanked Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for their “strong leadership to reinvigorate mining and processing supply chains in and for America”.
“Demand for copper is growing strongly,” Henry said. “The world needs more mining to build the future.”
Rio Tinto and BHP, which still earn most of their money from mining the steelmaking raw ingredient iron ore in Western Australia’s vast Pilbara region, are pursuing strategies to expand their supplies of copper, one of the most sought-after metals of the global clean energy shift. BHP last year made repeated attempts to take over London-listed rival Anglo American, which it had targeted largely for its extensive ownership of copper mines, while Rio Tinto is aiming to grow copper production from its jointly owned Oyu Tolgoi development in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
The mining chiefs’ meeting with Trump came as the Resolution project faced a setback, with a US appeals court granting emergency orders to temporarily block federal officials from transferring a parcel of land at Oak Flat needed to develop the mine.
The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the transfer should be halted while it weighed a request from the San Carlos Apache tribe to block the project for religious, cultural and environmental reasons.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, called the court a “radical left court”, while branding those who opposed the mine as “anti-American, and representing other copper competitive countries”.
The fight over Oak Flat has spanned two decades.Credit: AP
The land in question includes Oak Flat – an area used for centuries for religious ceremonies, prayer and gathering of medicinal plants by the San Carlos Apache people and other Native American tribes.
A Resolution Copper spokesperson said the injunction was “merely a temporary pause” for the court to consider plaintiffs’ 11th-hour motions. “We are confident the court will ultimately affirm the district court’s well-reasoned orders,” the spokesperson said.
Resolution had undergone a “rigorous, independent review” under national environmental laws led by the US Forest Service, which included extensive consultation with Native American tribes with ancestral ties to this land, local communities, civil society groups, and government agencies, the company added.
“The collaborative process has directly led to major changes to the mining plan to preserve and reduce potential impacts on tribal, social, environmental, and cultural interests,” the spokesperson said. “We are encouraged to see so much local support for the Resolution Copper project, and our ongoing dialogue will continue to shape the approach moving forward.”
Wendsler Nosie Sr, of the group Apache Stronghold, accused Trump of wanting to “destroy our holy ground of Oak Flat so a foreign-owned corporation can send copper to China”.
“Our nation cannot survive if we sacrifice what is sacred in pursuit of temporary profits,” he said.
“Three times now, courts have stopped this destructive project – that is because it is unjust, bad for our nation and bad for the world. We hope the courts will stop the destruction of Oak Flat once and for all.”
With wires
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.