HR 6391
Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act
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Bill overview
This bill, the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act, seeks to repeal a provision in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow foreign mining companies to extract copper from Oak Flat in the Tonto National Forest. The bill highlights concerns that this mining operation, led by Rio Tinto and BHP with significant Chinese ownership, would benefit China, threaten U.S. security, and harm Indigenous communities and the environment. It aims to prevent the transfer of public land to these foreign corporations.
Key provisions
- Repeals section 3003 of Public Law 113–291, which authorized the transfer of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper.
- Withdraws Oak Flat from all public land laws, including entry, appropriation, and disposal.
- Addresses concerns about foreign ownership and control of U.S. copper resources.
- Highlights the potential negative impacts on Indigenous communities and their ancestral lands.
- Raises environmental concerns regarding water usage, subsidence, and toxic waste disposal.
- Notes Rio Tinto’s history of environmental damage and human rights violations.
- References the potential for increased Chinese influence over global copper supply chains.
- Identifies Oak Flat as the Traditional Cultural Property of Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District.
Who is affected
- Foreign mining companies (Rio Tinto, BHP, Chinalco)
- The United States government
- Indigenous communities (American Indians)
- Arizona residents
Sponsors
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Primary sponsor
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 6391
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To repeal section 3003 of Public Law 113–291, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act
.
Congress finds the following:
Resolution Copper is a joint venture of the world’s two largest foreign mining entities, Rio Tinto (55 percent) and BHP (45 percent), and these foreign corporations formed Resolution Copper to acquire public land called Oak Flat to extract United States copper located beneath it primarily for export to the People’s Republic of China.
Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder is Chinalco, a company wholly owned by the People’s Republic of China, which owns 14.56 percent of Rio Tinto, 4 times more than the next largest shareholder.
Rio Tinto generates over 57 percent of its revenue through the export of minerals to the People’s Republic of China, and BHP generates over 62 percent of its revenue through the export of minerals to the People’s Republic of China, making the People’s Republic of China the largest market for Rio Tinto and BHP.
BuckMcKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291;
FY15 NDAA).
Section 3003 of the FY15 NDAA—
requires the Forest Service to give away Oak Flat to Resolution Copper within 60 days of publication of a legal Final Environmental Impact Statement so these foreign corporations can mine copper from beneath Oak Flat to export to the People’s Republic of China; and
lacks any requirement that Resolution Copper smelt, refine, or sell the copper it extracts from beneath Oak Flat in the United States or any requirement that this copper, derived from public land, benefits United States consumers.
The United States Geological Survey reports that over 30 percent of the copper mined in the United States is already exported, and economic studies show that the bulk of this copper is shipped to the People’s Republic of China.
Rio Tinto stated in comments to the Department of Commerce dated April 1, 2025, that China is the most profitable destination for almost any mine in the world to sell its copper
.
Resolution Copper has never provided a plan to the United States showing that the copper extracted from beneath Oak Flat would remain in the United States because Resolution Copper instead plans to export Oak Flat copper to the People’s Republic of China in order to maximize shareholder profits.
Resolution Copper will enable the People’s Republic of China to strengthen its control over global copper supply chains.
Over the years, the People’s Republic of China has ramped up manipulative and malign actions within the United States, exposing United States citizens to ever-increasing security and economic vulnerabilities.
Giving away publicly owned Oak Flat and the natural resources beneath it under section 3003 of the FY15 NDAA to Resolution Copper to benefit the People’s Republic of China will weaken United States security.
Rio Tinto has a long record of human rights violations and environmental devastation, harming communities around the world, including in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Namibia.
In 2020, Rio Tinto intentionally blew up an area sacred to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples in Western Australia, including the Juukan Gorge Rock Dwellings, which have evidence of human habitation dating back 46,000 years, because it was the cheapest way to access ore, resulting in immeasurable cultural and spiritual loss and pain for Indigenous communities.
forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak Flat, and other areas that are now administered as public lands, by the United States Army during the 1880s; and
held as prisoners of war until the early 1900s.
Oak Flat is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Traditional Cultural Property of Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District.
Resolution Copper plans to extract copper located one mile beneath Oak Flat’s surface, which will result in a crater 2 miles wide over 1,000 feet deep and deplete, destroy, and contaminate substantial amounts of limited and precious water resources in a region that is already suffering from severe drought and aridification by—
consuming over 250,000,000,000 gallons of groundwater over the 40-year life of the mine, which is enough water to support 180,000 people annually for 40 years, resulting in over 4 feet of land subsidence over large swaths of the East Salt River Valley due to decreases in groundwater levels, in some areas by nearly 200 feet; and
redirecting water from the East Salt River Valley, which will comprise approximately 70 percent of Resolution Copper’s groundwater, to slurry 1,370,000,000 tons of toxic mine waste through almost 20 miles of pipelines to a massive toxic waste dump nearly 500 feet high and spanning approximately 15,000 acres, in the Gila River watershed.
The Arizona State Land Department in a letter to the Forest Service dated August 4, 2025, objected to Resolution Copper’s proposed mine because Resolution Copper would withdraw substantial amounts of groundwater from the East Salt River Valley, causing irreversible subsidence and earth fissures, jeopardizing future residential development of Arizona State Trust Land needed for the growing population in the Phoenix metropolitan area, which will result in the loss of billions of dollars for public education and other basic needs of Arizonans.
In this Act:
Oak Flatand generally depicted as
Oak Flat Withdrawal Areaon the map titled
Save Oak Flat from Foreign Miningand dated November 2025.
location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials.