Apache Stronghold sues to reverse Oak Flat land swap for mine

Apache Stronghold has gone back to federal court to try to reverse the land swap that moved Oak Flat, known to Western Apache people as Chi'chil Biłdagoteel, into Resolution Copper’s control and cleared the way for a giant underground mine on sacred ground in the Tonto National Forest. The new filing puts the focus back on who controls the land, whether federal protections were ignored, and what happens next for Apache families and tribal residents tied to the site through ceremony and tradition.

The dispute began more than a decade ago, when Congress authorized the Southeast Arizona land exchange in December 2014, in section 3003 of the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. That exchange called for about 2,422 acres of U.S. Forest Service land, including Oak Flat, to be transferred to Resolution Copper in return for eight parcels totaling about 5,376 acres owned by the company. Apache Stronghold first sued in federal court in January 2021, arguing the transfer violated religious freedom protections and federal law.

The legal fight reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to take the case in May 2025. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented from that refusal. But the case did not end there. In March 2026, the U.S. Forest Service transferred Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, and Apache Stronghold and allied groups returned to court in April seeking to unwind that transfer before mining begins.

Court filings say the proposed mine would leave a nearly two-mile-wide, 1,100-foot-deep crater. The Forest Service has described the damage to tribal sacred sites as immediate, permanent and irreversible. Resolution Copper says the exchange gave the public more than 5,400 acres of conservation land and that it is time for the fight to end. The company has argued the project would help strengthen domestic copper supplies and unlock one of the world’s largest copper deposits.

The case has become a broader test of power over sacred land, with support from 21 of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribal nations, the National Congress of American Indians and a coalition of religious, civil-rights and legal organizations. In Apache County and across northern Arizona, the outcome could decide whether ceremonies tied to Oak Flat continue on the land itself or are displaced by a mine that opponents say would destroy a place central to Western Apache identity.