The Last Sunrise Dance

The Apache have performed the Sunrise Dance at Oak Flat in Arizona for centuries, but the ceremony that The Washington Post documented might be the last one before their sacred land becomes a copper mine. Why did Congress hand our public land over to Resolution Copper, a foreign mining company? Will the copper mine boost the U.S. economy? Will Resolution Copper adequately compensate the Indigenous tribes that will be affected? We have one request after you hear this episode: please speak up for our public lands and Indigenous neighbors. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome
• 0:17 Let's talk about Oak Flat
• 7:11 Until next time!

Transcript

Welcome to The Friday Brief, a news podcast by Girl Friday. I’m Phoenix Ricks, the CEO of Girl Friday and your host. This is your brief for December 15, 2025. 

If you’ve been listening to The Friday Brief since the beginning, chances are you’ve heard me talk about Oak Flat, Arizona. It is part of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona, and it was transferred to a foreign mining company through a rider slipped into Congressional legislation in 2014. Oak Flat had been protected for decades by both parties, but in the eleventh hour, while debating appropriations, it was handed over to Resolution Copper, which is a joint venture of two of the largest mining companies in the world. This was scandalous for several reasons, starting with how Oak Flat even ended up in that bill. 

The space has been sacred for so long that advocates of the copper mine couldn’t begin to tell you when the Indigenous tribes first called it home. It's been sacred for so long that even the ancestors of the members of Congress who voted for this land swap weren’t on this land. And yet, in one sly move more than a decade ago, a group of people without the historic ties to that sacred space decided that money was more important than our shared constitutional right to religious freedom or the environmental protection of our public lands. 

I believe in religious freedom in the United States, and I’m acutely aware that as a Christian, I am uniquely privileged to exercise that freedom without any restrictions. But for my friends of other faiths, even friends in major world religions, the same isn’t true. I have witnessed my Jewish friends, Muslim friends, and Hindu friends encounter far more hurdles than I have as a Christian. The freedom to exercise your beliefs here becomes even murkier if your spiritual traditions exist beyond physical structures. But you shouldn’t need a gothic house of worship for your belief to be deemed valid. And it feels particularly egregious to see this happening to the First People of this nation, to tribes that have had to fight for every inch of land and water. 

Finally, as the groundbreaking looms nearer, major outlets are picking up where Arizona papers have been for years, and they are telling the story of the Apaches’ brave fight to save Oak Flat from becoming a cavernous pit. In the Washington Post’s recent piece, titled “A land fight pits a sacred Apache tradition against a copper mine,” they follow a young girl to her four-day ceremony at Oak Flat. This ceremony has been performed for centuries. The Post says, “Surrounded by a hundred family and fellow tribal members, dancers, singers, and medicine men, she would perform the Sunrise Dance, reenacting part of the Apache creation story.” This event marks probably the last ceremony before Oak Flat becomes a copper mine. 

Resolution Copper believes the copper will be worth 200 billion dollars, and yet they are only willing to possibly give the impacted tribes a total of 54 million for losing their most sacred space. To be clear, a foreign mining company anticipates earning 200 billion dollars from sacred land, and it is only willing to set aside maybe 54 million in a trust for the people who are directly affected.

Now, I can’t blame the mining company for choosing to mine the land they were handed on a silver platter in an obscene land swap. Congress should have rectified this issue ages ago, and they had every opportunity to do so as they saw this case bouncing through the court system. But I can hold this mining company accountable for the pitiful way it has handled community engagement and long-term mining strategies in Arizona. As I’ve mentioned in previous episodes, for those who support this mine for economic reasons, it remains unclear whether the U.S. even has the smelting capacity to process this volume of copper. In that case, the copper would be refined abroad, greatly reducing the financial gain within the U.S. economy. 

To date, to my knowledge, the mining company has not presented any long-term strategy to invest in developing those refining capabilities in the U.S., which could create jobs and boost local economies in Arizona or other states. They’ve had every opportunity to improve their strategy, but have failed to do so. I know this world well, because this is a core part of what I do as a geopolitical advisor. This is the side of my work that I call corporate diplomacy. It's a mix of strategy, genuine community engagement, policymaking, advocacy, and clear communications. It guides companies to do the right thing, even in messy situations, and get great press for doing so. 

You know who is excelling at corporate diplomacy right now? Apache Stronghold, the entity fighting for Oak Flat. They have been supported by faith leaders across religions, environmental advocates, land-use experts, water experts, lawmakers, mining experts, and everyday Americans who know that our Indigenous neighbors deserve so much more than our country has ever afforded them. If you care about our public lands, our Indigenous neighbors, religious freedom, and environmental protection, you can use your voice and your platform to speak up for Oak Flat. 

Even if Resolution Copper succeeds in opening the mine shortly, our Indigenous community still needs us to talk about it. We still need to push for minimal degradation and maximum compensation. And as American voters, we need to demand that our members of Congress never even let a consideration like this cross their desks, let alone make it to a vote. They need to know that a vote to destroy public lands, which are national treasures, means they will never be elected to office again. 

Thank you for listening to The Friday Brief. We are almost on our 50th episode! Thank you for supporting this podcast through two seasons. I’m getting ready for the third season, which, thanks to your feedback, will be daily. Check out thefridaybrief.com, and follow The Friday Brief on Instagram. Until next time, I’m Phoenix Ricks, signing off from Washington, DC. Let’s work together for a world of good.