US Congressman in bid to ban Rio Tinto from Apache sacred site
US Congressman in bid to ban Rio Tinto from building a copper mine at the Apache Sacred Site in Arizona
An American politician tries to stop Rio Tinto from building a copper mine on a site in Arizona considered sacred by the Apache.
Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva introduced a bill called the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act.
The proposal provides “permanent protection” for the area, which is central to the history and religion of the San Carlos Apache tribe.
Mining ban: Congressman Raul Grijalva (pictured) introduced a bill called the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act in an effort to block a copper mine at a sacred Apache site in Arizona
Grijalva’s intervention is the latest in a years-long campaign to force Resolution Copper — a group majority owned by Rio — out of the region.
Protests have gained momentum since 2020, when Rio blew up two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal sacred sites in Western Australia during an iron ore mine expansion.
On Monday, an independent study commissioned by the company in the aftermath of the Juukan Gorge disaster said it still has more work to do to protect indigenous cultural heritage at all of its mines around the world.
Rio, which is on the FTSE 100 list, has been slow to apologize for the destruction of the Juukan Gorge sacred sites and the fallout led to an Australian parliamentary inquiry, an evacuation of the boardroom and a reconsideration of local heritage laws.
Following the scandal, then-chairman Simon Thompson vowed the company would “never again” violate sacred sites.
Chief executive Jakob Stausholm has made it a point to investigate the company’s toxic culture and practices. But the company has not yet abandoned plans for the Arizona mine.
Campaigning groups and politicians, including 75-year-old Grijalva, claim Rio would make the same mistake again by destroying Oak Flat, where the soil itself is sacred to the Apache tribe, which is going against its promises after the Juukan Gorge.
The techniques the company is considering using to build the mine could destroy the entire area, turning it into a two-mile-wide crater.
The mine has been contested in recent years after a last-minute piece of legislation in 2014 transferred the land from federal control to Resolution Copper.
Grijalva said: “Turning Oak Flat into a political bargaining chip was an attack on tribal sovereignty that should never have happened.
“Doing it on behalf of a foreign-owned mining conglomerate, with a documented record of destroying indigenous holy sites and human rights violations, makes it all the more unscrupulous.”
Roger Featherstone, executive director of the local nonprofit Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, said that if BHP, the minority owner of Rio and Resolution Copper, committed to never destroying a sacred site again, “one would think that this would be inappropriate and unworkable.” project would be’. put to rest once and for all’.
A spokesperson for Resolution Copper said: “We are making great efforts to deepen our dialogue with Native American tribes, including our chairman of the board, chief executive and other senior leaders who spend time meeting with tribal leaders, elders and community members and to listen to it. ‘