An Apache group that has fought to protect land it considers sacred from a copper mining project in central Arizona has suffered a significant blow. A federal court panel voted 6-5 on Friday to uphold a lower court’s denial of a preliminary injunction to halt the transfer of land for the project. The Apache Stronghold organization wanted to halt the project by preventing the U.S. government from transferring the land called Oak Flat to Resolution Copper. Wendsler Nosie has led Apache Stronghold's fight. He vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court the decision by the 11-member “en banc” panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
