Representatives of the San Carlos Apache Tribe had hoped to present their concerns to the recent Annual General Meeting of Rio Rinto.

Unable to do so, the Tribe issued the following statement and question regarding the Resolution Copper mine in the United States:

"Good day. My name is Tao Etpison. I am the Acting Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe located in southeast Arizona. I represent 17,000 Western Apache tribal members.

Despite the lie being perpetrated by your company that only one tribe opposes the Resolution Copper mine, the fact is my Tribe is joined by 19 of 21 other Arizona tribes, countless other tribes throughout the United States, as well as regional and national Native American organizations, including the Inter-Tribal Association of Arizona and the National Congress of American Indians. We have support from Indigenous Peoples throughout the world, including Australia.

In a display of unity that resembles the events leading up to the months long occupation at Standing Rock, North Dakota, when it was threatened by an extractive industry project, we are all vehemently opposed to the construction of the Resolution Mine because it will destroy our sacred site at Oak Flat, and perpetrate untold environmental damage for generations.

As a result of the destruction of Juukan Gorge, your company has pledged, and I quote from your website, "it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the destruction of a site of such exceptional cultural significance never happens again".

Oak Flat is a deeply religious, sacred site, like a church or a temple, but without walls. For many Apaches, Oak Flat is akin to Angor Wat, the Wailing Wall, Temple Mount, the Kaaba in Mecca, or Juukan Gorge.

There is no question that Oak flat holds exceptional cultural significance, not only to my tribe but to Native American Tribes across the United States. It is listed on the United States' National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property.

Oak Flat is the spiritual bridge between our elders who once worshiped on these grounds, to those of us living today, and to Apaches yet to be born. The mining project you propose will destroy our freedom of religion, our right to worship – a universal right of all human beings.

The free exercise of religion is protected under the laws of Australia, the United States, and every other country in the free and democratic world, and yet your company plans to destroy it.

My question is will you abandon your current mining plan that will obliterate Oak Flat or do you intend to move forward and destroy our sacred grounds?"

Rio Tinto provided National Indigenous Times with comments made by company chairman Dominic Barton on the subject at the London AGM held in April.

"First of all we clearly respect people's views, particularly the people that are on the land and own the land about their views on it. That project is, as you know critical for – we believe for domestic copper supply in the US to supply the energy transition, but we want to make sure that we are hearing what people are saying," he said.

"No one I think could accuse Rio Tinto of trying to ram something through over a 16-year time frame. So we want to spend the time to get it right, to listen, to talk, including, you know, with the 11 different First Nations groups that are there. And we will continue to do that... Again, we're being very careful about the approach and how we do this."