I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6391 
To repeal section 3003 of Public Law 113–291, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 3, 2025 
Mrs. GRIJALVA (for herself, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. LIEU, Mr. MIN, Ms. 
MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. 
STANSBURY, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. TRAN, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM, and Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To repeal section 3003 of Public Law 113–291, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Oak Flat from 
Foreign Mining Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Resolution Copper is a joint venture of the 
world’s two largest foreign mining entities, Rio 
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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. 
(2) 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. 
(3) Rio Tinto generates over 57 percent of its 
revenue through the export of minerals to the Peo-
ple’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 Peo-
ple’s Republic of China the largest market for Rio 
Tinto and BHP. 
(4) In 2014, despite bipartisan opposition, con-
gressional allies of Resolution Copper inserted the 
Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act (section 
3003 of Public Law 113–291; 16 U.S.C. 539p) as 
a closed-door, last-minute rider in the Carl Levin 
and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 
113–291; ‘‘FY15 NDAA’’). 
(5) Section 3003 of the FY15 NDAA— 
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(A) requires the Forest Service to give 
away Oak Flat to Resolution Copper within 60 
days of publication of a legal Final Environ-
mental Impact Statement so these foreign cor-
porations can mine copper from beneath Oak 
Flat to export to the People’s Republic of 
China; and 
(B) lacks any requirement that Resolution 
Copper smelt, refine, or sell the copper it ex-
tracts from beneath Oak Flat in the United 
States or any requirement that this copper, de-
rived from public land, benefits United States 
consumers. 
(6) The United States Geological Survey re-
ports 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. 
(7) Rio Tinto stated in comments to the De-
partment of Commerce dated April 1, 2025, that 
China is ‘‘the most profitable destination for almost 
any mine in the world to sell its copper’’. 
(8) Resolution Copper has never provided a 
plan to the United States showing that the copper 
extracted from beneath Oak Flat would remain in 
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the United States because Resolution Copper instead 
plans to export Oak Flat copper to the People’s Re-
public of China in order to maximize shareholder 
profits. 
(9) Resolution Copper will enable the People’s 
Republic of China to strengthen its control over 
global copper supply chains. 
(10) Over the years, the People’s Republic of 
China has ramped up manipulative and malign ac-
tions within the United States, exposing United 
States citizens to ever-increasing security and eco-
nomic vulnerabilities. 
(11) 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. 
(12) 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, Indo-
nesia, Mongolia, and Namibia. 
(13) In 2020, Rio Tinto intentionally blew up 
an area sacred to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and 
Pinikura peoples in Western Australia, including the 
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Juukan Gorge Rock Dwellings, which have evidence 
of human habitation dating back 46,000 years, be-
cause it was the cheapest way to access ore, result-
ing in immeasurable cultural and spiritual loss and 
pain for Indigenous communities. 
(14) Oak Flat, located in the Tonto National 
Forest is the ancestral homeland of American Indi-
ans— 
(A) forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak 
Flat, and other areas that are now adminis-
tered as public lands, by the United States 
Army during the 1880s; and 
(B) held as prisoners of war until the early 
1900s. 
(15) Oak Flat is listed on the National Register 
of Historic Places as the Traditional Cultural Prop-
erty of Chı´’chil Bi5dagoteel Historic District. 
(16) 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 substan-
tial amounts of limited and precious water resources 
in a region that is already suffering from severe 
drought and aridification by— 
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