Tell Rio Tinto not to steal Oak Flat for a failed experiment!

Tell Rio Tinto not to steal Oak Flat.

We are at an extremely critical stage in our battle to protect Oak Flat from Rio Tinto and BHP’s plans to destroy this sacred recreational and ecological haven by building a large underground copper mine.  Rio Tinto is the majority owner of Resolution Copper, a subsidiary created to destroy Oak Flat.

We need your help to keep Oak Flat in public ownership for everyone to enjoy.  If you live in the United States you have additional opportunities to protect Oak Flat by contacting the US Forest Service.  No matter where you live, please send an email to Simon Thompson, the Chairman of the Board of Rio Tinto, and ask him to not steal Oak Flat and to abandon the project.

Due to a law lobbied through the US Congress late in 2014, Oak Flat could be given to Rio Tinto and BHP within 60 days of the publishing of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) no matter what the FEIS says.

The US Forest Service is preparing to publish the FEIS on January 15, 2021 and the land transfer could happen any time after that.

Resolution Copper’s proposal is and always will be a failed experiment and Rio Tinto must not become the only foreign mining company to take ownership of a Native American Sacred site on public land.

This highly controversial project would involve the transfer of 2,200 acres of Tonto National Forest lands out of public ownership and convey them to Rio Tinto for development of a copper mine that would result in a crater 1,000 feet deep and two miles wide.  The project would cause the complete physical destruction of a federally-recognized Traditional Cultural Property (the Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District ) that is critical to the survival of centuries-old Apache religious and cultural practices, including the girls’ coming-of-age ceremony known as the Sunrise Dance, which is still being held there today.  In broader terms, the project would destroy the entirety of Oak Flat and significant surrounding lands.  Oak Flat, located about 80 miles east of Phoenix, is a major natural, scenic, and recreational area with a free public campground and world-class rock climbing opportunities as well as springs, riparian areas, and important habitat for threatened and endangered species.

Please read and edit the sample letter and send it to Rio Tinto executives.  

Please share this alert with your friends and colleagues.