Tribe warns US government against moving ahead with mine [View all]

PHOENIX — Native American tribal members fighting plans for an enormous copper mine on land they consider sacred say they are increasingly worried U.S. officials will publish an environmental review paving the way for the project even as they await a federal appeals court ruling in the case.

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"Obliterating Oak Flat for a copper mine will be a grave human rights violation against Indigenous people and an environmental catastrophe," Rambler said in a written statement this week. "The Biden Administration's commitment to Indian Country will be seriously eroded if it approves this mine."

Apache Stronghold, a group composed of San Carlos Apache members and others, wants to halt the land swap while the case plays out in court. The panel of 11 judges on the appeals court is expected to issue a decision in the next few months.

https://www.abc15.com/news/state/tribe-warns-us-government-against-moving-ahead-with-mine


Five years ago:

Oak Flat is a sacred site? It never was before

Former tribe historian: A mining shaft was built there in the 1970s with no protest from the tribe.

My book, “The History of the San Carlos Apache,” published by the San Carlos Apache Historic and Cultural Preservation Office in 1997, offers a much different perspective. There has not been a long history of ceremonial or cultural activities such as Sunrise or Holy Ground ceremonies taking place at Oak Flat.

From my personal perspective, the thought of having such a ceremony at Oak Flat, far from the support of relatives, clan members and friends in the San Carlos tribal area is almost unthinkable.

My uncle, who lived in Superior, would regularly attend most tribal ceremonies. He would travel to the San Carlos Apache reservation or the White Mountain Apache reservation. I attended my first tribal Sunrise ceremony at Cibecue, in the White Mountains; the idea of having a sunrise ceremony at Oak Flat was never considered.

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In 1970, the Magma Copper Company built a mine shaft on Oak Flat that you can see from the passing highway. No member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe said anything about it being a sacred site. I know because I was living in Superior at the time. Some tribal people from San Carlos even talked about getting employment with the mine.

There were no protests, no publicity of any kind. Why not? If this area was sacred, wouldn’t opposition arise many years before today? There was never any statement made by tribal members or tribal leadership.

It wasn’t until recent years that the site of Oak Flat was called sacred in any kind of way. All one has to do is examine the records to see if the word sacred was ever used for the site.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/07/23/oak-flat-sacred/30587803/