A federal court said Thursday that it will take another look at claims that the proposed Resolution Copper mine should be delayed because it sits on land sacred to the Apache and would violate their religious rights. Read more»

A federal appeals court rejected Rosemont Copper's bid for a new hearing on its mining project southeast of Tucson, keeping a ruling in place which effectively halted the long-controversial mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. Read more»

Lawmakers, federal regulators and courts have been grappling with questions surrounding the Resolution Copper Mine since 2004 – and both sides agree that the debate is likely to continue for years to come. Read more»

"For 14 years I have claimed Bisbee as my home. But after Thursday, the 12th day of July. I hang my head in shame and sorrow for the sights I have witnessed here. When the full truth reaches the outside world, it will be looked upon with deserved aversion." — Rosa McKay, writing in 1917 of the now infamous Bisbee Deportation Read more»

From the archive: Bisbee wound up a week-long commemoration of the forced removal of nearly 1,300 striking miners from their homes 100 years ago. The event, known as the Bisbee Deportation, was "the biggest mass kidnapping in American history" but hasn’t always been well known, even to people who grew up in the area. Read more»

The 15-year struggle over proposed mining activities in the Santa Rita Mountains continued to play out in June, as Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, the Biden Administration and environmental groups continue to engage in legal wrangling and shifting priorities. Read more»

Rep. Raúl Grijalva pushed the Army Corps of Engineers to take immediate action against Rosemont Copper, telling federal officials they "cannot remain on the sidelines," and must review the company's efforts to "hastily" grade and fill dry washes on a chunk of private land along the western reaches of the Santa Rita Mountains. Read more»

A federal judge dismissed a pair of lawsuits filed by three Native American tribes and an environmental coalition over Rosemont Copper's move to expand its mining operations to "Copper World" on the western slopes of the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. Read more»

In a win for environmental groups and three Native American tribes,, a federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that halted the long-controversial Rosemont open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains about 30 miles southeast of Tucson. Read more»

Rosemont Copper's move to expand its operations in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson faces a new challenge after the Tohono O'odham Nation, Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Hopi Tribe asked a federal court to block the company from grading the slopes and dumping fill material in dry washes. Read more»

Led by Center for Biological Diversity, environmental groups filed a notice of intent—a prelude to a federal lawsuit—against Rosemont Copper, arguing the company violated federal law. Read more»

As the country sources more of the materials needed for green energy domestically, tribal nations and Indigenous groups are fighting a proposed lithium mine in Nevada and a proposed copper mine in Arizona over impacts to culturally important land. Read more»

I'm sympathetic to keeping mines in the U.S. where we can see them, but less on board with punching half-mile deep holes in aquifers as Tucson's water future looks brackish. Read more» 1

As we recently witnessed in Australia, Rio Tinto's promises to protect sacred sites are meaningless. Congress must pass the Save Oak Flat Act to protect an Arizona grove where tribes have gathered to conduct ceremonies and gather traditional medicines for millennia. Read more»

As President Donald Trump was hailing the pace of border wall construction Tuesday, Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr. was bemoaning it as a project that continues “to destroy … sacred sites.” Read more»