A coalition of Western Apaches, other Native peoples, and non-Native allies filed an updated lawsuit in federal district court on Friday, seeking to halt the planned destruction of Oak Flat, a sacred Native American site, by a Chinese-owned mining company.
In Apache Stronghold v. United States, Apache Stronghold is challenging the federal government’s recent decision to transfer Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, which plans to develop a massive underground mine that would eventually collapse the site into a crater roughly two miles wide and 1,100 feet deep—effectively ending Apache religious practices tied to the land.
“We will never stop fighting,” said Wendsler Nosie Sr. of Apache Stronghold. “This is a struggle for the soul of our people. Oak Flat is where generations of Native peoples have come to connect with the Creator and Mother Earth. We pray the court reverses this illegal land grab so we can continue those time-honored traditions.”
Known in Apache as Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, Oak Flat is located outside present-day Superior, Arizona. The site has been used for sacred ceremonies by Western Apaches and other Native peoples since time immemorial. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and had been protected from mining and other destructive practices for decades.
That protection ended in December 2014, when a last-minute provision authorizing the land transfer was included in a must-pass defense bill, allowing the federal government to exchange Oak Flat for other lands and hand it over for mining development.
“The feds rushed the Oak Flat transfer through under cover of darkness because they wanted to dodge meaningful judicial review,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead attorney for Apache Stronghold. “That was as illegal as it was brazen. The court should rescind the illegal transfer and protect the freedom of Western Apaches to continue worshipping at Oak Flat for generations to come.”
The legal battle over Oak Flat has spanned years. Apache Stronghold appealed its case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear it last year. In a dissent, Neil Gorsuch, joined by Clarence Thomas, called the Court’s refusal “a grievous mistake.”
Following that decision, the case returned to lower courts while additional emergency appeals remained pending. However, earlier this year, the federal government transferred Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, moving the project forward before those appeals could be resolved.
Apache Stronghold’s updated lawsuit now seeks to reverse that transfer before irreversible damage is done to the sacred site.
The effort to protect Oak Flat has drawn widespread support. The proposed mine is opposed by 21 of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians. Recent polling also shows that 71% of Americans support protecting the site.
In addition to Becket, Apache Stronghold is represented by Stephanie Barclay of Georgetown Law, along with attorneys Michael V. Nixon and Clifford Levenson.
For Apache Stronghold and its supporters, the case represents more than a legal dispute—it is a fight to preserve a sacred place central to their identity, religion, and way of life.
