Apache Leap is a sheer 500 foot cliff looming over the town of Superior, Arizona. The name tells the story of Apache warriors choosing to leap rather than surrender, when the US Calvary drove them to the edge in the 1870s – right around when mining began in the area.
That spirit of resistance remains strong, as Apache Stronghold – a coalition of Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies – vows not to let the latest court setback deter them in their years-long fight to protect the area from mining devastation. A May 27 US Supreme court decision rejected their appeal of lower court decisions allowing the transfer of Federal lands to Resolution Copper, which plans to mine what it says is the second-largest known copper deposit in the world.
“We will never stop fighting – nothing will deter us from protecting Oak Flat from destruction,” said Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. (Apache, San CarlosTribe) of Apache Stronghold. “While this decision is a heavy blow, our struggle is far from over. We urge Congress to take decisive action to stop this injustice while we press forward in the courts.”
Apache Leap looking to east above Superior | ©Robin Silver Photo
Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented from the Court’s refusal to hear the appeal, saying that the Court’s “decision to shuffle this case off our docket without a full airing is a grievous mistake – one with consequences that threaten to reverberate for generations.” Dr. Nosie echoed this warning, calling the land transfer for mining “a disastrous thing that the United States is walking into.”
Josh Gonzalez of Standing Bear Indigenous Media Network commented after the decision, “I’ve seen this before – when they thought they could flood our lands, burn our lodges, silence our drums. And yet… we’re still here. Our songs still rise. Our children still dance. Our languages still carry the breath of Creation.”
An assault against tribal sovereignty
Superior is a town of around 2,500 people who know the boom/bust cycle of copper mining. Once prosperous, the economic downturn came in the 1980’s, when the Magma Copper Mine shut down after 71 years of operation. The town council meets in the Town Hall – an old school with peeling tiles and a large mural declaring the town’s mining history. The council is preparing, and hoping for, another boom.
Superior, Arizona | Photo by Odette Auger
The National Defense Authorization Act includes copper on its critical minerals list, slated for fast tracked environmental approvals through the “FAST-41“. The Act does not require hardrock mining companies to pay for minerals extracted from federal land. Section 3003 was a last minute, middle of the night addition to the Act in 2014, which mandated the transfer of 2,422 acres of Federal land to Resolution Copper within 60 days of publication of an Environmental Impact Statement.
Resolution Copper is foreign-owned by British and Australian partners BHP and Rio Tinto (the largest shareholder of which is the People’s Republic of China via holding companies). “You’re talking about Chinalco, a government state entity [state owned mining company] that’s going to control this area,” Dr. Nosie told CNN on June 1. “If you look at the profits, and you look at what they’re after, versus what religion is – there’s an unbalance, because religion, the earth itself, and water pockets – I mean, that’s forever and ever – if we take care of it.”
“Culture is the Gold of the People” | Photo by Odette Auger
“Turning Oak Flat into a political bargaining chip was an assault against tribal sovereignty that never should have happened,” said rep Raul Grijalva, sponsor of the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act. “Doing it on behalf of a foreign-owned mining conglomerate with a documented record of destroying Indigenous sacred sites and human rights violations makes it just that much more unconscionable.”
Mila Besich is the Mayor, born and raised in Superior. She explains the long history of mining laws favouring extraction over community needs, and the challenges navigating the system. The town is preparing to leverage the next boom towards a more diversified economy, in hopes of lasting benefit.
The bust that followed the century-long boom is tangible. “You’ve lost a full generation of people,” Besich says, “You see that statistically in our schools, drugs.”
While she sees the Resolution mine as an “infusion of hope,” she’s candid about the concerns that come with an influx of workers. She says she’s learned from others in rural policy “how quickly that boom hit and what it did to their infrastructure, what it did to their community dynamics.”
Resolution Copper mining shafts, Oak Flat Arizona (2015) | ©Robin Silver Photo
With minimal infrastructure, mining “boom towns,” are vulnerable to crime, states the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. “Areas where extraction activities occur are usually remote and may be difficult to access, meaning that workers are isolated from government oversight and community support and may have less access to protective services, legal advocates, and law enforcement personnel.”
A2024 report by Rio Tinto outlined a culture of bullying, harassment and racism. Data showed nearly a quarter of its 45,000 employees reported sexual harassment at work, including rape or sexual assault. This follows a 2020 inquiry by the Australian Human Rights Commission finding 74% of women in the mining industry had experienced sexual harassment. Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said the results were “disturbing” and the company would implement all 26 recommendations from the report.
“I do not want to be number one in domestic violence. I do not want to be number one in STDs and I’m vehemently opposed to man camps – not going to happen.” —Mila Besich, Mayor of Superior, AZ
Besich is aware of the risk of violence against women and girls associated with man camps. “Mining is inherently like a frat house,” she says. “When workers are brought in from far away, and families are separated, that mentality takes root,” she explains.
Mayor Besich is unflinching in her resolve, “I do not want to be number one in domestic violence. I do not want to be number one in STDs and I’m vehemently opposed to man camps – not going to happen.”
That’s where the mitigation agreement with Resolution comes in. Her council is working to use it as a strategic tool. She says there will be a need for increased policing, and social services. Housing is key to proactively avoiding temporary worker’s housing, she says, and workers bringing their families would revitalize the town.
1872
America’s mining law hasn’t changed much since 1872. Besich explains it was designed with the intention of “making it easier for people to make money,” she says.
“The reality is, we live in the deposit of copper, I can’t change that. I can’t move any of this mineral. So we’ve got to learn how to work with it. And working against it generally does not create any better results.”
Resolution Copper plans to mine an area of nearly 4,000 acres, including National Forest and sacred land. With a facility of over 8,600 acres, the tailings dam would be one of the largest in the world.
“What battles are you going to win?” asks Besich. “To protect your community versus systemic change. For us that can happen by changes to the mining tax. Systemic changes for us or future mining communities could be in NEPA, requiring the companies to make the mitigations directive and making it required.”
Ga’an Canyon, Oak Flat | photo by Russ McSpadden, Center for Biological Diversity
Roger Featherstone of the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition is much less optimistic about potential benefits to the community. “The money that Rio Tinto gives to the communities is a drop in the bucket,” he says, “And it’s basically bribery, extortion, greenwashing.”
Featherstone explains the mining site being outside of the town boundaries means the town doesn’t get any direct tax revenue. “All the agreements between Resolution Copper and Superior say if the town were to annex the company property, the town would have to pay back the money that was granted.”
“It really cripples the community’s ability to protect themselves, because they have to go hat in hand to the company, ‘please, daddy, may I have some money?’”
“Before allowing the government to destroy”
Highway 60 runs straight through the town of Superior, into the hills. A winding incline takes us to the other side of the Apache Leap. We’ve entered Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, a place of direct connection to the Creator and specific religious ceremonies since the beginning of Diné time.
This is where Resolution Copper intends to block cave mine – the cheapest, most destructive type of mining. The costs are one-tenth the cost of other underground methods, and can extract the same amount as open pit mining. With no infill, companies excavate until the site collapses into itself, creating a crater 1.8 miles long and at least 1,000 feet deep.
A roadblock marks the entry to the state campground, Tonto National Forest, with a sign notifying the space is closed for cultural ceremony this week. Walking in, Dr. Nosie sits under a 500 year old oak tree, twisted and gnarled with age. Looking upwards, neither words nor camera can capture what I’d like to communicate about the tree. Leaves shimmer in the wind.
Apache Sunrise Ceremony, Oak Flat (2012) | ©Robin Silver Photo
Dr. Nosie shares a story about when the daughter of a preacher in Superior came to offer support, helping people with their statements. “She came right here in front of this tree, and she started to pray. And as she was praying, the tree started to move. Everything started to move. I looked around, nothing else was moving, just the tree.” When she was done, he asked if she’d noticed. “Oh yeah, that happens all the time,” he chuckles.
“For us Apaches, there’s one God, one Spirit, one Mother Earth, one People,” Dr. Nosie says. To the woman, he said “We can’t say you have no spiritual connection here. You’re a child of God too.”
This understanding was the foundation of support from many faiths in the initial court action, a 2021 Freedom of Religion filing. In a divided ruling (dissenting Judge Marsha Berzon called the ruling “absurd,” “illogical,” “disingenuous,” and “incoherent”), the courts refused to protect this sacred place. Apache Stronghold appealed that decision to the Supreme Court in September 2024. Judge Gorsuch commented on the court’s May 2025 dismissal of that appeal, “Before allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site, this Court should at least have troubled itself to hear their case.”
“These are holy, sacred, and consecrated lands which remain central to our identity as Apache People.” —Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr.
Dr. Nosie explained in his Congressional testimony, “For as long as may be recalled, our People have come together here. We gather the acorns and plants that these lands provide, which we use for ceremonies, medicinal purposes, and for other cultural reasons.… These are holy, sacred, and consecrated lands which remain central to our identity as Apache People.” Ancient petroglyphs demonstrate millennia of gatherings, celebrations and ceremony in this place.
His granddaughter is having her coming of age ceremony. During the Sunrise ceremony, girls temporarily become Changing Woman – the first Apache, and the primary deity embodied as the Earth. “This oldest ceremony, the purpose of why we are here on this earth,” Dr. Nosie explains. “It’s her spirit leaving this earth to be with the Creator.”
Photo courtesy of Becket
He explains five days from now, “In our ceremony, God gives our girl power to heal, on that one day. A lot of people will come for healing – personal problems, physically, or family wise.” It’s a time of vigilance, he explains. “No matter which way you turn, there is good and bad.” He gives us directions – if she walks by, we will hold our voices, and stay away from her. Spirits can use people, and animals.
“What’s evil in the world is going to want to destroy that sacred ceremony. It fights what is good in the world,” says Dr. Nosie.
“The beauty of it is, it starts when she is born,” he explains. As soon as the umbilical cord is cut, the baby becomes an individual. When a baby girl is born, a feather and stone is given to the child, to ensure they stay connected to mother Earth. “Then the child from that point grows understanding the responsibility of the environment, the earth, everything that gives us life. She’s tied to it, she understands it. She can converse with it.”
“In our ceremony, God gives our girl power to heal, on that one day. A lot of people will come for healing – personal problems, physically, or family wise.”
The wind rustles the ancient oak tree, and Dr. Nosie gestures towards it, saying, “When this old oak tree wants to converse with me, the wind will come through. You’ll hear it and you’ll hear movement. But it is not going to translate to me until I go to sleep. Once I go to sleep the translation takes place.”
“And that’s why in today’s world, you just hear it as a wind, the trees moving, you don’t go beyond that.” Dr. Nosie circles back to birth being the beginning of the coming of age ceremony – “tied from the very beginning of life when you set foot on earth and the Mother.”
Photo by Odette Auger
Visiting this place during ceremony preparations is a gift, and a way to see how deeply significant this place is to Apache origin stories, and purpose. Dr. Nosie explains through sharing an ancient teaching. “When the earth was flooded, we weren’t on the boat. We went into corridors of the earth. When the waters settled, God sent five angels down to the earth, the Gaan people.” Through ceremony, a young girl was picked to bring the people back to the surface of the earth, traveling up through volcanoes. “She went first, and was covered in ashes. When the ashes were cleared from her eyes, that’s when she saw the new earth. And she came back to the people, and we followed her back up to the surface.”
“That’s the ceremony – it has been repeating itself since the beginning of time. It’s for us to never ever forget Mother Earth and how we survive and how we came to be.”
We are sitting in a sacred place, Dr. Nosie explains, “This is one of the places that the young woman came to the top. Meaning that this is the home of the spirit that actually went to go get her and bring her back to the surface.”
Apache Sunrise Ceremony, Oak Flat (2012) | ©Robin Silver Photo
Here to take
Dr. Nosie’s daughter Vanessa takes us to a place where prophecy is expressed through four sacred colours, each representing four culturally significant mountains that surround Dinétah. She advises against photos, especially any that would locate this spot. While she shares teachings, a mining company truck idles at a distance, taking note of our gathering.
Rio Tinto and BHP claim to follow guidelines adopted by the International Council on Mining and Metals to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples, as a necessary precondition to the implementation of mining projects that affect them.
“These people need to understand that there are some places you cannot do this to.”
James Anaya, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said the congressional authorization “represents a shameful circumventing of democratic process.” He also said that without community and tribal support, Rio Tinto should abandon its Resolution Copper mining project.
Behind Dr. Nosie, a desert-coloured bird with a flash of red flitters down from a shrub, the red catching my eye. It has a cardinal crest. It flicks back into hiding, fluttering down every now and then while Dr. Nosie speaks.
Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. | Photo by Odette Auger
“Our people were exiled out of here for the precious minerals that America wants. So we became the enemy to America because of what they wanted, what they were here for. They weren’t here to live. They weren’t here to be like us. They were here to take,” says Dr. Nosie.
“They’re not going to take away my spiritual belief. They’re not going to take away what God gave us. They’re not going to do that to us. They’re not. These people need to understand that there are some places you cannot do this to.”
“When we win this case, it’s going to be a different America. It’s going to be a better one because it’s going to enforce who we are as people. It’s going to enforce the protection of Mother Earth and all those things that keep us alive.”
A Navajo friend tells me that the desert cardinal is a bird that “only visits when deep truth is being spoken.
Apache Stronghold is waking people up, he says. “And it really represents all the people. Everybody’s part of the stronghold.”
The new moon rises over the oak trees, and under a ramada made of willow branches, a meal is spread for everyone to share. The next day, a Navajo friend tells me that the desert cardinal is a bird that “only visits when deep truth is being spoken.”
©Robin Silver Photo
This story is the first in a series on critical minerals mining projects on Indigenous lands the southern United States. It was published with support from the Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources, with Odette Auger receiving a fellowship in their Critical Minerals Institute. See also the second article in this series, “Lithium Valley: Clean Energy, Dirty Legacy“
Odette Auger (Sagamok Anishnawbek) is an award-winning independent journalist and storyteller living on Klahoose territory in the Salish Sea. Follow her work at authory.com/OdetteAuger.
