Resolution Copper Mining is set to acquire 2,400 acres of protected land near Superior, almost a decade after the foreign mining company began its effort to obtain the valuable parcel.
On Friday the U.S. Senate approved the land swap, included in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was instrumental in inserting the controversial land exchange into the defense bill, praised its passage in a statement.
“Resolution Copper represents a game-changer for an area of Arizona facing grave economic challenges,” he said.
The mine is projected to generate $61 billion over its lifetime and create 3,700 direct and indirect jobs.
Opponents — including Native American tribes, officials and former miners in Superior, and conservationists — say the bill could not have passed Congress on its own merits. The land-swap legislation was first introduced in 2005 and more than a dozen versions have failed to pass Congress.
“I’m outraged,” Wendsler Nosie, former chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, said Friday. The tribe considers Oak Flat, the site to be mined, and surrounding canyons to be among its sacred places. “Here McCain and other leaders preach about democracy, human rights, freedom of religion. ... Yet they attach (the land swap) to this bill. Where is their conscience?”
The exchange paves the way for Resolution to access a massive copper deposit 7,000 feet below ground.
Resolution, jointly owned by U.K-based Rio Tinto Group and Australia-based BHP Billiton Ltd., said it plans to work with local tribes and will strive to hire locally and regionally whenever possible.
“Resolution Copper will focus on the comprehensive environmental and regulatory review ... where there will be broad public consultation, government-to-government consultation with Arizona Native American tribes and a comprehensive valuation appraisal of the copper deposit as required by Congress,” project director Andrew Taplin said in a prepared statement Friday.
Some residents in Superior are eager for mining to begin.
“This area is hurting for jobs. The people are hurting,” said Pam Rabago, a longtime resident of Superior. She praised Resolution for its contributions to local schools and businesses. “We need this mine and we need it to be Resolution Copper.”
The town of Superior revoked its written support for the mine last year, saying it needed assurances that the town will benefit from the mine and their water supply will stay safe.
“We’re still going to keep negotiating our concerns,” Gilbert Aguilar, Superior town councilman. “You can say there’s going to be jobs. But put it in writing that they’re going to be here.”
