Wednesday’s hearing will address appeals of an August decision by the U.S. district court in Arizona that denied the plaintiffs’ requests for a preliminary injunction. After that ruling, the plaintiffs — who include conservation and recreation groups, the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and individual Apache women — sought an emergency injunction to stop the land exchange until their appeals could be heard. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction on Aug. 18, 2025, temporarily blocking the exchange.
If the court rules against all three appellants, the injunction will be lifted and the public lands about 40 miles east of Phoenix are expected to be immediately handed over to a private mining company.
Regardless as to how the 9th Circuit rules on these appeals, the cases will return to the district court, where all cases remain in the early stages on the merits, with the administrative record having still not been provided.
What: Oral arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the preliminary injunction appeals in three cases challenging the Oak Flat land exchange.
When: 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 7.
Where: Ceremonial Courtroom, Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse, 401 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003. The argument will also be live streamed on the court’s website: https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live-oral-arguments/.
Who: Attorney Bernardo Velasco will argue on behalf of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Roger Flynn of the Western Mining Action Project will argue on behalf of plaintiffs in the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition case. Miles Coleman will argue on behalf of the plaintiffs in a third case filed by individual Apache women.
Background
The Trump administration is pushing the transfer of more than 2,400 acres of federal public lands to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of multinational mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP. The purpose is to facilitate construction of a massive copper mine that would permanently destroy Oak Flat, a sacred site of tremendous spiritual importance to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other Tribes in the region.
The federal lands to be exchanged, including Oak Flat, are also home to endangered and threatened species like ocelots and Arizona hedgehog cacti. They provide invaluable recreational and ecological benefits.
Resolution intends to cave in Oak Flat’s rolling hills, leaving a crater up to 2 miles wide and 1,000 feet deep, using a technique to excavate the ore body 7,000 feet underground. Massive amounts of groundwater would be pumped, depleting surface waters, obliterating sacred land, and threatening water availability across the region. Material removed from the mine would spread toxic waste across thousands of acres of public land.
Plaintiffs in the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition case include the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, Earthworks, the Center for Biological Diversity, Access Fund, the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon chapter, and the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, Inc.
A fourth lawsuit challenging the Oak Flat land exchange was filed by Apache Stronghold and is on a separate schedule.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
