Stop the Sell-off of Sacred Native American Lands for Copper Mining

14 January 2016

 - Culturally important Native American lands may soon be sold to a foreign-owned mining company thanks to a provision snuck into a 2014 defense bill.

Oak Flat, which lies within Tonto National Forest in Arizona, has been used for Apache young women’s coming-of-age ceremonies for centuries.

Due to the extensive copper reserves in the area, mining activities in Oak Flat would dig a crater two miles wide and 1000 feet deep. The site also lies dangerously close to the Apache Reservation’s aquifer. Mining could cause serious contamination to groundwater through acid runoff, threatening not just the reservation but neighboring towns that rely on the aquifer as well.