Early last year, Darrin Lewis paid $ 800,000 for a hardware store in a small Arizona town where mining giant Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L) hopes to build one of the world’s largest underground copper mines.
Rio buys materials from Lewis’ Superior Hardware & Lumber for its Resolution mining site, which accounts for a third of the store’s revenue and helps keep it afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
But US President Joe Biden halted the mining project last month in response to concerns from Native Americans who say it will destroy sacred land and environmentalists worried it will gobble up water in a drought-ridden state.
That sparked fear among Lewis and others here in Superior, Arizona, who want to reap the economic benefits of a mine that would harvest more than 40 billion pounds of copper.
“I’ve sunk everything I’ve got right here,” Lewis said, surrounded by hammer drills, wrenches, and other goods in his shop. “It would absolutely devastate us if this mine didn’t open.”
By stopping the project, Biden reversed a decision by predecessor Donald Trump that would have given Rio land for the mine. Biden ordered more government analysis of the project.
The ongoing battle pits conservationists and Native Americans against local officials and residents who support its economic benefits. The complex debate foreshadows the fighting to come as the US strives to build more electric vehicles, which use twice as much copper as those with internal combustion engines. The Resolution mine could fill about 25% of the demand for US coal-fired power.
The Arizona dispute centers on Oak Flat Campground, which some Apache say is home to deities known as Ga’an. At the site, near the San Carlos Apache Reserve, religious ceremonies are held to celebrate the coming of age of teenage girls. Many Apache ancestors buried under the volcanic rock.
In 2014, the Obama administration and Congress initiated a complex process that aimed to give Rio 3,000 acres of federal land, including the campground, in exchange for 4,500 acres that Rio owns nearby. Biden has interrupted that transfer.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
“If Rio gets this place, the mine will kill the angels and gods that live here,” said Wendsler Nosie, a member of the San Carlos Apache tribe who has led a protest camp at the site for 18 months. A sign there describes the land, known as Chi’chil Bildagoteel in the Western Apache language, as the physical embodiment of the spirit of the earth.
Nosie has garnered widespread support for his cause, aided by the worldwide focus on the rights of indigenous peoples. Rio itself fueled that cause last year when it blew up culturally significant Aboriginal shelters in Australia.
If the land swap is approved, Rio has said it would keep the campground open for decades to come before the underground mine creates a crater that would engulf the site. The company has also said it would seek tribal permission for the project and study ways to avoid causing the crater.
“The land exchange gives us the opportunity to collect more data, then we can fine-tune our plans and look for ways to further avoid and minimize the damage on site,” said Vicky Peacey, a senior licensing authority for the Rio project.
Based in Australia and the United Kingdom, Rio has also pledged to preserve other cultural sites, including Apache Leap, a rocky outcrop that overlooks Superior and where Apaches leaped to death to avoid them in the late 1800s were captured by American troops.
‘AMERICAN BUYER’
Politicians in Superior – a city of 3,000 who voted nearly two to one last November for Democrat Biden in a majority republican province – are now urging the president to change his mind.
The land exchange, if Biden approves, would also allow the city of Superior to purchase more than 600 acres which officials say is crucial to diversifying the local economy by expanding the airport, developing an industrial park and building affordable housing.
“President Biden will have to make some bold decisions,” said Democrat Mayor Mila Besich.
Mining is essential to achieving Biden’s goal of expanding EV production, she said. “We need more American copper,” she said.
While the region has long been popular with hikers and campers, it is more commonly known as the “Copper Corridor”, with mines from Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX.N) and others.
The closure of the Magma copper mine in 1996 devastated Superior’s economy. Officials have pinned their hopes on Resolution. Since the copper deposit was first discovered in 1995, Rio and minority partner BHP Group Plc (BHPB.L) have spent more than $ 2 billion digging an exploratory mine shaft and dismantling an old Magma smelter. They still have to produce copper. BHP declined to comment.
More than half of the buildings in the center of Superior are empty. Several Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) charging stations hint at the city’s ambitions to be part of the EV boom. Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) and Lucid Motors are building their own EV factories less than 50 miles away.
Rio has pledged to hire 1,400 full-time workers at an average annual salary of more than $ 100,000. That is almost half of the population in a city whose average income is one third lower than the national average.
“What is sacred to my community is that people have a job and a home,” said Besich, the mayor.
The mine would increase the state, local and federal tax coffers by $ 280 million annually and add $ 1 billion to the state’s economy, the Arizona governor said.
Besich pushed back when research showed Rio would pay the city just $ 350,000 a year in taxes, well below the $ 1 million needed annually for more police, fire, and road maintenance.
Rio agreed to pay the city more, guarantee Superior’s water supply, and donate $ 1.2 million to the school district. Chief Superintendent Steve Estatico said that without Rio’s support, the district’s schools – where enrollment has fallen 13 percent since 2016 – could close.
“Rio has had to learn in recent years that it cannot take host communities for granted,” said Besich.
FIXED NEGOTIATIONS
The San Carlos Apache – one of the first Native American tribes to endorse Biden’s presidential bid – have not negotiated with Rio because the tribal council prefers direct talks with the US government, Chairman Terry Rambler said.
Rio’s copper chief, Bold Baatar, said he hopes to negotiate directly with the tribe when he visits Arizona in June, as soon as pandemic restrictions allow.
“We hear everyone’s concerns,” Baatar told Reuters. “There will be no mine until we have done our best to get permission.”
Not all local Indians are against the mine. Some members of the White Mountain Apache tribe, whose reserve is located just north of the San Carlos Apache’s, say they do not consider the site to be a sacred site.
“The belief that the site is religious is news to me,” said Alvena Bush, a White Mountain Apache counsel who supports the project.
WATER CARE
Rio has dug a mine shaft almost 2 km underground on the land it owns near the campsite. The bottom of the shaft has become a gathering place for future mining activities.
The miner drains water from the nearby copper deposit to make it easier to extract. Every minute, more than 600 liters of water are pumped to surface treatment plants for use in local agriculture.
Rio plans to mine the copper using a technique known as block caving. It involves carving a cave out of a large piece of rock, which then collapses under the weight of the rock above, creating a crater 3 km wide and 304 meters deep.
According to an environmental study by the US Forest Service, this method would damage the aquifers that feed two local springs. The entire mine would reduce the available groundwater in the area, which has been in a drought since the late 1990s, the report said.
“This land becomes worthless without water,” said Henry Munoz, who leads a group of retired Superior miners who oppose the project.
Biden is expected to decide later this spring whether to give Rio the land for the mine. Lewis, the hardware store owner, hopes his plight will be considered among all competing interests.
“If I had anything to say to President Biden, it would be, ‘Leave the mine open,’ ” he said.
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