Appeals court blocks land transfer for BHP's Arizona copper project

[Many copper bobbins, warehouse copper pipes.]
SimoneN

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order late Monday blocking [https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2025/08/18/appeals-court-blocks-land-swap-resolution-copper-mine-oak-flat/85517273007/] a land exchange that would allow construction of the Resolution copper mine on a site held sacred by Arizona tribes, handing a victory - for now - to the coalition of environmentalists, tribes and the San Carlos Apache Tribe that had sought to halt the project.

The ruling came the night before the end of a 60-day review period for the land transfer, which has withstood more than 20 years of delays and legal battles.

Resolution Copper, a joint venture that is 55%-owned by Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/RIO]) and 45% by BHP (NYSE:BHP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BHP]), called the ruling a "temporary pause" to give the court time to consider the merit of lawsuits in the case, and said it was confident the court would uphold an earlier ruling that "the congressionally directed land exchange satisfies all applicable legal requirements."

"As I understand, it’s just temporary while the parties look to launch their applications," BHP (NYSE:BHP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BHP]) CEO Mike Henry told _The Wall Street Journal_ in an interview [https://www.wsj.com/business/bhp-underlying-earnings-fall-on-lower-iron-ore-coal-prices-0f62df33]. "We'll see how it plays out, but our view of the opportunity inherent in Resolution remains unchanged."

"This is a very large, attractive deposit and one which could fulfill a good portion of U.S. domestic needs for copper for a long time," Henry said. "So the environment here is overall favorable and we just have to let the process run its course."

Resolution is one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in the world, and the companies say it could supply as much as 25% of current U.S. demand for copper.

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