The bonfire during a Sunrise Ceremony at Oak Flat burns bright beneath the mine on October 6, 2023. The existing Resolution Copper mine on the border of Oak Flat is already dewatering and contaminating the area, though the damages by the proposed new mine will be exponentially worse: done with a different mining technique, called block cave mining, which will result in a crater over two miles wide and a thousand feet deep, permanently decimating this sacred site. Over 180 degrees will rise to the Earth’s surface, leading to an estimated average 10-degree increase in temperature in a 50 mile radius in an area already plagued by drought and extreme heat, which includes the Phoenix metro area.
No facility in the United States is prepared to process the copper ore extracted by the mine, so it would be shipped to China via Mexico, with only 25% of the copper ever expected to return to the United States. The government is giving away resources to foreign corporations in the name of so-called “green energy,” neglecting to act in the best interest of the health of the land and its occupants long-term. The mine estimates a 40-year production schedule; after the copper is mined, the land will be destroyed forever.
Molly Peters
Print Size: 800×600 mm
Frame Size: 1100×830 mm
Paper Type: Felix Schooller True Baryta 310gsm
Frame Colour: Black
Exhibit: POS MP 568 02
Archival Giclee Digital Print
The bonfire during a Sunrise Ceremony at Oak Flat burns bright beneath the mine on October 6, 2023. The existing Resolution Copper mine on the border of Oak Flat is already dewatering and contaminating the area, though the damages by the proposed new mine will be exponentially worse: done with a different mining technique, called block cave mining, which will result in a crater over two miles wide and a thousand feet deep, permanently decimating this sacred site. Over 180 degrees will rise to the Earth’s surface, leading to an estimated average 10-degree increase in temperature in a 50 mile radius in an area already plagued by drought and extreme heat, which includes the Phoenix metro area.
No facility in the United States is prepared to process the copper ore extracted by the mine, so it would be shipped to China via Mexico, with only 25% of the copper ever expected to return to the United States. The government is giving away resources to foreign corporations in the name of so-called “green energy,” neglecting to act in the best interest of the health of the land and its occupants long-term. The mine estimates a 40-year production schedule; after the copper is mined, the land will be destroyed forever.
Photographer:
Molly Peters
Print Size: 800×600 mm
Frame Size: 1100×830 mm
Exhibit: POS MP 568 02
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