Rio Tinto aims to move forward with the long-delayed Resolution copper mine in Arizona, a joint venture with BHP, and start production by the end of the decade.
“From a permitting point of view, we are towards the end of the process,” Rio’s CEO Jakob Stausholm said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We’re talking towards the end of the decade that we can have production.”
Just recently, a Native American group asked the US Supreme Court to block Rio Tinto and BHP from gaining access to Arizona land needed to build the Resolution mine. The project would effectively destroy the Apache tribe’s worship site. In 2014, Congress and then-President Barack Obama approved a complex deal to give Rio Tinto the land. President Joe Biden froze the land swap after assuming office in 2021.
The Resolution project would, if completed, supply more than a quarter of US copper demand for decades. The project has faced numerous setbacks, and the permitting process has dragged on for over 12 years. So far, both Rio and BHP have spent more than $2 billion on the project without producing any copper.
Theodor Lisovoy, Managing Editor, Rough&Polished
