Resolution Copper Completes Congressionally Mandated Land Exchange in Arizona

Resolution Copper completed a congressionally mandated land exchange in March 2026, gaining access to 2,422 acres near the historic Magma mine while conveying more than 5,400 acres of environmentally and culturally sensitive land into permanent conservation.

The exchange followed more than a decade of environmental review, Tribal consultation, a favorable Ninth Circuit ruling, and Supreme Court decisions. The Trump administration added copper to its list of critical minerals in 2025.

Vicky Peacey, President of Resolution Copper, said the administration’s permitting streamlining created clearer timelines and improved interagency coordination without waiving environmental laws. At full production the project is expected to yield more than 40 billion pounds of copper over decades, along with molybdenum, silver, tellurium, indium, and bismuth.

Global copper demand is projected to rise from 28 million metric tons today to 42 million by 2040, with data centers alone consuming 330,000–420,000 tons annually by 2030.

2 billion annually to Arizona’s economy and support 3,700 jobs with $270 million in combined annual compensation. Over a 60-year lifespan, studies project up to $61 billion in total economic value through wages, taxes, and local spending. Approximately 90 percent of the current workforce lives within 40 miles of the site.

A recently approved $500 million investment has already launched a new drilling program, with production targeted for the mid-2030s. Peacey said the project will keep copper concentrate in the United States and feed it into the domestic supply chain, including Rio Tinto’s Kennecott operations in Utah.

Cultural heritage measures include a Tribal Monitor Program, permanent protection of Apache Leap as a Special Management Area, co-management agreements, the Emory Oak Restoration and Conservation initiative, and management of the Oak Flat campground by 4Winds Contracting, a San Carlos Apache-owned business.

Resolution Copper is a joint project of Rio Tinto and BHP and a brownfield redevelopment in Arizona’s Copper Triangle. The company has spent more than a decade consulting with Tribal Nations, local communities, and federal agencies to redesign the mine plan and avoid hundreds of ancestral sites.