Overview
- The U.S. Forest Service completed the Southeast Arizona land exchange and issued a final record of decision, transferring title to Resolution Copper.
- The swap conveys 2,422 acres in Tonto National Forest, including part of the Oak Flat Historic District, in exchange for more than 5,400 acres added to federal conservation lands.
- A Ninth Circuit panel declined emergency requests to halt the transfer, noting grave cultural harms yet finding no viable legal challenge to Congress’s 2014 directive.
- Rio Tinto and BHP’s venture says it now controls the acreage and plans about $500 million in drilling and early works as permitting and mitigation steps continue.
- Apache petitioners assert violations of religious‑freedom and environmental laws and have filed emergency applications at the Supreme Court seeking a stay.