Court Detangles Legal Twists in Rio Tinto Copper Mine Dispute

Ninth Circuit judges appeared to grapple Wednesday during oral arguments with the potential harms of their decision on whether to allow the transfer of sacred tribal land in Arizona to Resolution Copper for its mining project.

The panel heard arguments from several environmental and tribal groups seeking to stop the Trump administration from handing Oak Flat—a sacred tribal site on public land—over to Resolution Copper, the subsidiary of multinational mining companies Rio Tinto Group and BHP Group.

“There’s just so many things that have already been litigated or turned ...