December 3, 2025
Mrs. Grijalva (for herself, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Min, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Ruiz, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Tran, Ms. McCollum, and Ms. Kamlager-Dove) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
To repeal section 3003 of Public Law 113–291, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act
.
Sec. 2. Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
Resolution Copper is a joint venture of the world’s two largest foreign mining entities, Rio Tinto (55 percent) and BHP (45 percent), and these foreign corporations formed Resolution Copper to acquire public land called Oak Flat to extract United States copper located beneath it primarily for export to the People’s Republic of China.
(2)
Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder is Chinalco, a company wholly owned by the People’s Republic of China, which owns 14.56 percent of Rio Tinto, 4 times more than the next largest shareholder.
(3)
Rio Tinto generates over 57 percent of its revenue through the export of minerals to the People’s Republic of China, and BHP generates over 62 percent of its revenue through the export of minerals to the People’s Republic of China, making the People’s Republic of China the largest market for Rio Tinto and BHP.
(4)
In 2014, despite bipartisan opposition, congressional allies of Resolution Copper inserted the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act (section 3003 of Public Law 113–291; 16 U.S.C. 539p) as a closed-door, last-minute rider in the Carl Levin and Howard P. Buck
McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291; FY15 NDAA
).
(5)
Section 3003 of the FY15 NDAA—
(A)
requires the Forest Service to give away Oak Flat to Resolution Copper within 60 days of publication of a legal Final Environmental Impact Statement so these foreign corporations can mine copper from beneath Oak Flat to export to the People’s Republic of China; and
(B)
lacks any requirement that Resolution Copper smelt, refine, or sell the copper it extracts from beneath Oak Flat in the United States or any requirement that this copper, derived from public land, benefits United States consumers.
(6)
The United States Geological Survey reports that over 30 percent of the copper mined in the United States is already exported, and economic studies show that the bulk of this copper is shipped to the People’s Republic of China.
(7)
Rio Tinto stated in comments to the Department of Commerce dated April 1, 2025, that China is the most profitable destination for almost any mine in the world to sell its copper
.
(8)
Resolution Copper has never provided a plan to the United States showing that the copper extracted from beneath Oak Flat would remain in the United States because Resolution Copper instead plans to export Oak Flat copper to the People’s Republic of China in order to maximize shareholder profits.
(9)
Resolution Copper will enable the People’s Republic of China to strengthen its control over global copper supply chains.
(10)
Over the years, the People’s Republic of China has ramped up manipulative and malign actions within the United States, exposing United States citizens to ever-increasing security and economic vulnerabilities.
(11)
Giving away publicly owned Oak Flat and the natural resources beneath it under section 3003 of the FY15 NDAA to Resolution Copper to benefit the People’s Republic of China will weaken United States security.
(12)
Rio Tinto has a long record of human rights violations and environmental devastation, harming communities around the world, including in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Namibia.
(13)
In 2020, Rio Tinto intentionally blew up an area sacred to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples in Western Australia, including the Juukan Gorge Rock Dwellings, which have evidence of human habitation dating back 46,000 years, because it was the cheapest way to access ore, resulting in immeasurable cultural and spiritual loss and pain for Indigenous communities.
(14)
Oak Flat, located in the Tonto National Forest is the ancestral homeland of American Indians—
(A)
forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak Flat, and other areas that are now administered as public lands, by the United States Army during the 1880s; and
(B)
held as prisoners of war until the early 1900s.
(15)
Oak Flat is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Traditional Cultural Property of Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District.
(16)
Resolution Copper plans to extract copper located one mile beneath Oak Flat’s surface, which will result in a crater 2 miles wide over 1,000 feet deep and deplete, destroy, and contaminate substantial amounts of limited and precious water resources in a region that is already suffering from severe drought and aridification by—
(A)
consuming over 250,000,000,000 gallons of groundwater over the 40-year life of the mine, which is enough water to support 180,000 people annually for 40 years, resulting in over 4 feet of land subsidence over large swaths of the East Salt River Valley due to decreases in groundwater levels, in some areas by nearly 200 feet; and
(B)
redirecting water from the East Salt River Valley, which will comprise approximately 70 percent of Resolution Copper’s groundwater, to slurry 1,370,000,000 tons of toxic mine waste through almost 20 miles of pipelines to a massive toxic waste dump nearly 500 feet high and spanning approximately 15,000 acres, in the Gila River watershed.
(17)
The Arizona State Land Department in a letter to the Forest Service dated August 4, 2025, objected to Resolution Copper’s proposed mine because Resolution Copper would withdraw substantial amounts of groundwater from the East Salt River Valley, causing irreversible subsidence and earth fissures, jeopardizing future residential development of Arizona State Trust Land needed for the growing population in the Phoenix metropolitan area, which will result in the loss of billions of dollars for public education and other basic needs of Arizonans.
Sec. 3. Definitions
In this Act:
(1) Oak Flat
The term Oak Flat means the approximately 2,422 acres of Forest Service land in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern Arizona commonly known as Oak Flat
and generally depicted as Oak Flat Withdrawal Area
on the map titled Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining
and dated November 2025.
(2) Resolution copper
The term Resolution Copper means Resolution Copper Mining, LLC, formed by foreign mining entities, Rio Tinto (55 percent) and BHP (45 percent), to acquire Oak Flat and extract and monetize United States copper located beneath it.
Sec. 4. Repeal and withdrawal
(a) Repeal
Section 3003 of Public Law 113–291 (16 U.S.C. 539p) is repealed.
(b) Withdrawal
Subject to valid rights in existence on the date of the enactment of this Act, Oak Flat is withdrawn from all forms of—
(1)
entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws;
(2)
location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
(3)
disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials.