The PKKP has been reluctant to provide public commentary outside of the parliamentary inquiry following the Juukan blasts so the open letter is a significant statement of its continued distress.
Last week the fallout finally reached Rio Tinto’s board with chairman Simon Thompson declaring he would not seek re-election in 2022 and director Michael L’Estrange announcing he would stand down after the annual general meeting. Former Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two other executives also lost their jobs.
The US Forest Service was given a mandate to transfer the Oak Flats land to Resolution Copper in 2014 but only after it went through environmental approvals.
In January the final environmental impact statement and draft decision to approve the project were published by the USFS but they were rescinded on March 1 for further consultation with the tribes that consider Oak Flat sacred. The move followed a Presidential Memorandum from US President Joe Biden to improve tribal consultation.
Both Rio Tinto and BHP declined to comment, instead pointing to a previous statement from Resolution Copper on February 25 in which project director Andrew Lye said the company was committed to working with the tribes.
“We will continue to consult and seek community input as we refine and shape the Resolution Copper project over the coming years, to minimise any impacts on Oak Flat,” he said.
“Resolution Copper will continue to engage with the local community and seek the consent of all 11 Native American Tribes that have historical connections with the land involved in the project before any decision on development, consistent with the International Council on Mining and Metals Statement on Indigenous Peoples and Mining.”
Rio is the operator of Resolution with 55 per cent ownership while BHP owns the remainder.
On February 17 Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said Resolution was a number of years away from being in a position to consider sanctioning a full development.
In their submission to the Juukan inquiry the San Carlos Apache Tribe said if the land transfer occurred, the mine would decimate Oak Flat, “swallowing it whole by massive subsidence
and collapse, leaving a huge crater almost two miles across and a thousand feet deep.”