By Ernest Scheyder
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted an appeal court's decision to temporarily block federal officials from completing a land transfer needed for Rio Tinto and BHP to develop Arizona's Resolution Copper project.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the transfer - which had been slated for Tuesday - should be halted while the court weighs a request from the San Carlos Apache tribe to block the project for religious, cultural
and environmental reasons.
It was the first time any court has ruled in favor of the Apache or their allies in more than five years of myriad legal maneuvers against Resolution, slated to become one of the world's largest supplies of a metal used to build nearly every electronic device.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, called the court a "radical left court" and said that those who oppose the mine "are Anti-American, and representing other copper competitive Countries."
"It is so sad that Radical Left Activists can do this, and affect the lives of so many people," Trump said in the post. "We can't continue to allow this to happen to the U.S.A.!"
Trump did not outline any actions he plans to take to sway the court, but said that "our Country, quite simply, needs Copper — AND NOW!"
The court made clear it takes "no position on the merits" of the Apache's arguments and would expedite its review. The court asked for filings to be submitted by Oct. 14, but has not yet scheduled a hearing date. Ten of the appeal court's 29 members were appointed by Trump.
Representatives for the San Carlos Apache tribe were not immediately available to comment.
Rio, which owns 55% of the project to BHP's 45%, declined to comment on Trump's post, but said it was "confident the court will ultimately affirm" the land transfer.
BHP was not immediately available to comment.
Trump's post comes less than a month after he imposed a copper tariff on wiring and pipe, but not the copper concentrate produced by mines themselves, a levy falling far short of what the mining industry had expected. That will allow other countries to import copper into the U.S. without fear of tariff implications.
HISTORY
The mine's construction would cause a crater that would swallow a site where the Apache worship. That has fueled strong opposition from all but one of the state's 22 Native American tribes, as well as the National Congress of American Indians.
Congress and then-President Barack Obama approved the mine in 2014 after it was added at the last minute to a must-pass military funding bill with the condition that an environmental report be published.
The underground mine - which Trump approved in his first term before successor Joe Biden reversed him - would supply more than a quarter of U.S. appetite for copper and be a key part of Trump's plan to boost U.S. mining.
Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of some Apache and conservationists, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the transfer, a request that the high court denied in May.
Meanwhile, the tribe itself made the same request of federal courts. They failed last week at the district court level and appealed over the weekend.
Rio, which counts a Chinese aluminum company as its largest shareholder, has said it plans to keep all of Resolution's copper inside the U.S. should the mine be approved. The company controls one of the two U.S. copper smelters.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Leslie Adler and Franklin Paul)
