This bill, the "Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act," would repeal section 3003 of Public Law 113-291 and withdraw about 2,422 acres known as Oak Flat in the Tonto National Forest from most mining and mineral leasing laws. The withdrawal would bar new mining claims, mineral leasing, and most land disposals for that area, but would be "subject to valid rights in existence" when the bill becomes law. The bill was introduced on December 3, 2025, and referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
If enacted, the bill would stop the land exchange authorized by section 3003 and remove Oak Flat from the kinds of legal processes that allow mining claims, mineral sales, and most mineral leases. That would make it harder for companies to acquire Oak Flat for new mining or for new mineral development there. Existing valid rights at the time the law takes effect would remain in place.
No publicly available information.
The bill's sponsors and findings say Oak Flat is culturally important, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the ancestral homeland of American Indian communities. The findings state that Resolution Copper is a joint venture of Rio Tinto and BHP and that those companies sell large amounts of copper to the People's Republic of China. The bill also cites concerns about large amounts of groundwater use, land subsidence, a large surface crater, toxic mine waste, environmental harm, and past harm by Rio Tinto to Indigenous cultural sites. Supporters use these points to argue for repealing the earlier land exchange and withdrawing Oak Flat from mining activity.
No publicly available information.