Mining News June 3, 2009

Resolution Copper: Tribes Seek 6 Month Delay, by Ted Lake

A Scottsdale Lawyer has made a formal request to the Tonto National Forest to extend the public comment period for 180 days on the proposed Pre-feasibility Plan of Operations submitted by the Resolution Copper Company on Forest Service Lands East of Superior. Attorney Joe Sparks, who serves as a Special Counsel for the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Tonto Apaches as well as the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona submitted his faxed request to Gene Blankenbaker, Supervisor of the Tonto National Forest in Phoenix.. Sparks, in asking for the 6 month delay told Blankenbaker the environmental assessment ( for Resolution Copper ) involves a matter far too complex to be studied and addressed in a 30 day period which had been set in April. Sparks notes the Native American organizations he represents are all opposed to the Resolution Copper Mining plan. He also contends there has been no government to government consultation between the Forest Service, the Tribes and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona in this matter. Earlier, Sparks had sent additional correspondence to the Forest Service pointing out that the the Oak Flat Picnic areas and Camp Grounds are protected under federal law from mining and mining claims. The attorney further contends Oak Flat, Apache Leap, Devil's Canyon and related canyons, geological formations and springs are in the area of Resolution's proposed mining activity and these sites are holy sacred lands for the Apaches. Meanwhile, in a separate correspondence to the Tonto National Forest Regional Office in Phoenix,, San Carlos Tribal Chairman Wendlser Nosie Senior and Vernelda Grant , the Tribe's THPO Director said the San Carlos Apache Tribe opposes Senate Bill S- 409-Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2009 and the proposed Resolution Mine." The two tribal officials charged Resolution’s proposed Pre Feasibility Plan of Operations Environmental Assessment did not involve any meaningful government to government consultation. Nosie and Grant also note in their four page statement " Apaches have traditionally opposed large scale mining, and the Tribe opposes large scale mining to this day. Since 1996 the Tribe's Elder Cultural Advisory Council has written several formal letters to federal and local government agencies strongly opposing large scale mining." Long before that countless Apaches fought, killed and died protecting our homelands from large scale mining according to claims by Nosie and Grant. The two tribal officials contend the area impacted East of Superior by the proposed Resolution Mine includes cherished traditional food and medicine gathering areas which will be forever lost if the mine were to open. They also believe the proposed mine will seriously affect the waters both below and above the ground that the Apaches depend on for spiritual use Their statement also says Apaches have been taught to respect the natural world and to keep it clean and natural. That the Apache Traditional Relationship with the land is deep and personal and the Apaches depend on the natural world for survival. San Carlos Tribal Charman Wendsler Nosie Senior and Vernelda Grant also alleged in their statements to the office of Tonto National Forest Supervisor Blankenbaker:: "When our ancestors saw disrespectful miners raping Nigosdzan ( Apache name for Mother Earth ), they responded harshly and properly in a traditional manner." "They view many of the early white settlers, especially miners, as filthy savages who destroyed the natural world wherever they went through mining, over grazing, or by drying the land with their garbage and indiscriminate human waste. Our ancestors found these activities shocking and dangerous."