A Navajo Nation community near Page voted on Sunday to oppose a possible copper mine on grazing land in the area.
Coppermine Chapter, named after an open-pit copper mine that closed in 1968, voted 45 to 12 to adopt a resolution opposing mining projects like the kind Essential Minerals is looking into building.
Essential Minerals is a subsidiary of Chakana Copper, a Canadian minerals exploration company.
The resolution also rescinded an earlier one put forward by the chapter in 2005 that, at the time, supported exploration of a separate copper mine proposed by Constellation Copper.
The June 14 resolution alleges that back in 2005, Constellation failed to fulfill its commitments and obligations to the community.
It says that no mining company — like Essential Minerals — can use the 2005 policy to justify exploring a copper mine in 2026. It adds that the chapter has a sacred responsibility to protect its land, air and water, and that Coppermine “affirms its inherent right to determine the appropriate use of its land and to reject industrial activities that pose potential environmental, cultural and public health risks.”
However, the resolution isn’t bulletproof. Coppermine Chapter is not certified under the Navajo Nation’s Local Governance Act, so decisions made by the chapter could be reversed by the Navajo Nation government in Window Rock.
The tribe’s Minerals Department gave Essential Minerals a reconnaissance permit for the project last year.
As KNAU reported in May, tribal members in Coppermine worry the proposed mining project would cause health and environmental issues in the community.
Representatives of Essential Minerals have said they want to build trust about the project, which they say is just being explored right now.
An executive with the company told KNAU the mine will be safe, pointing to dust control measures and stricter regulations for copper mining, and that if it moves forward from the surveying phase to exploration, any water used at the mine site would be contained in a closed-loop system.
