US judge will not stop land transfer for mine in Arizona | Al Jazeera

A federal judge on Friday said he would not stop the US Forest Service from transferring government-owned land in Arizona to Rio Tinto for its Resolution Copper project, denying a request from Native Americans who said the land has religious and cultural import.

The judge’s decision is likely to escalate the clash between members of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Tribe, who consider the land home to deities, and Rio and minority partner BHP Group Plc, who have spent more than $1bn on the project without producing any copper, the red metal used to make electric vehicles and other electronic devices.

The ruling means the land transfer can now take place by mid-March under a timeline approved by Congress and then-President Barack Obama in 2014.

US District Judge Steven Logan, an Obama appointee, said the group of Native Americans who brought the suit lacked standing and that the government has the right to give the land to whomever it chooses.