TUCSON, Ariz.— Arizona residents, environmental groups and the San Carlos Apache Tribe today condemned a forum celebrating “eco-friendly” mining that will showcase Resolution Copper, the company behind a controversial plan to build a massive open-pit copper mine at Oak Flat, a sacred site of the Western Apache in central Arizona. Today’s forum at Tucson’s Arizona Inn is being hosted by Arizona Forward, a longtime nonprofit organization claiming to support a balanced approach to environmental protection and economic development.

The director of the University of Arizona School of Mining and Mineral Resources will moderate a panel discussion of mining company executives from Resolution Copper, Florence Copper and Freeport-McMoRan. The “Mining the Future” panel excludes anyone from Tribes or other communities harmed by mining in Arizona.

“It’s completely unacceptable for an organization like Arizona Forward, which promotes itself as the protector of our state’s environment, to give a platform to a corporation bent on destroying it,” said Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Resolution Copper’s proposal would destroy a sacred site, wipe out irreplaceable desert riparian habitat and threaten precious groundwater, which is in no way a model for sustainable mining. It’s as dirty as they come, and the company should answer for its conduct rather than being allowed to greenwash it.”

Arizona Forward describes the event as an “insightful panel on the vital role of sustainable mining in developing clean energy technologies,” where attendees can “engage with industry leaders and learn about eco-friendly mining practices and explore the future of mining.”

Resolution Copper is owned by the Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, known for its track record of environmental contamination and abuses of Indigenous rights.

Today’s letter called on Arizona Forward to take more responsibility in organizing informational panels and include diverse voices from affected communities. The letter also urged the group to “avoid platforming multinational giants with a history of human rights violations — especially mining giants that destroy Native American religious and cultural places.”

“I’ve got 24 years of mining experience, and I know that Resolution Copper’s plan at Oak Flat will cause irreparable damage, especially to our aquifers and area water supplies,” said Henry Muñoz, a former underground miner, resident of Superior, Ariz., and member of the Concerned Citizens and Retired Miners Coalition. “If constructed, Resolution’s mine would consume billions of gallons of Arizona’s dwindling water supply and destroy irreplaceable creeks and springs. Including this company on a panel about 'eco-friendly' mining isn’t just irresponsible, it’s a complete farce.”

Background

Oak Flat, about an hour east of Phoenix, is a sacred site known to Apaches as Chi'Chil'Ba'Goteel. For centuries Oak Flat has played a ceremonial role in the Apache culture as a place to harvest medicinal plants for coming-of-age ceremonies. It is also an important part of America’s public lands heritage. The Resolution Copper mine would decimate Oak Flat and the surrounding Sonoran Desert.

The mine would eventually create a crater more than a mile wide and 1,000 feet deep. The 1.4 billion tons of toxic waste the mine would produce would be dumped on thousands of acres of nearby wildlands, turning a vibrant landscape into an industrial wasteland and threatening to contaminate groundwater and surface water in the area. The mine would use a vast amount of groundwater annually, equal to the amount used by the entire city of Tempe.