One Arizona Mine Could Supply a Quarter of America’s Copper. Washington Sat on It for Three Decades.

Now a federal appeals court has cleared the way. In his latest free presentation, Jim Rickards says Resolution is just one of the deposits the government has kept out of reach.

Washington, D.C., Nov. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deep under the Arizona desert sits one of the largest copper deposits in North America. For nearly 30 years, it has gone nowhere.

That may finally be changing.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to rehear a challenge to the Resolution Copper project. The move leaves in place an earlier ruling that lets the federal land transfer for the mine go forward. The vote wasn’t close to unanimous. Five judges dissented. A separate lawsuit is still working its way through district court.

But the project, a joint venture of mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP, just cleared one of its biggest hurdles yet.

In his latest free presentation, former White House and Federal Reserve advisor Jim Rickards points to Resolution as proof of a much bigger problem. “There’s a huge copper deposit in Arizona. It’s called Resolution Mine,” Rickards says. “And it’s been sitting there for 29 years. It’s got enough copper to supply 25% of what we need, right here in America.”

A Quarter of America’s Copper. In One Spot.

Think about that. One site in Arizona. A quarter of the copper the country needs.

Copper runs through almost everything America wants to build next. Power lines. Factories. Data centers. Rickards notes it’s “one of the most critical metals used in the production of A.I. chips, by companies like NVIDIA.”

This isn’t a small operation hoping to get lucky. Rio Tinto and BHP have spent decades and billions of dollars chasing ore that sits thousands of feet underground. When two of the biggest miners on Earth wait that long for one deposit, it tells you what they think is down there.

Why America Waits So Long

Resolution’s long fight isn’t unusual. Rickards says it’s the rule.

He points to an S&P Global ranking of the world’s top mining countries, based on how long it takes to bring a major deposit online. Where did America land?

“We came in second-last,” Rickards says. “One notch above poverty-stricken Zambia.”

For the richest country in the world, that’s a stunning result. And Rickards is blunt about why. America’s mineral wealth was never the problem. “We know where it is. And how to get it,” he says. “But the government got in the way.”

He points to the Chevron Doctrine, a decades-old legal rule the Supreme Court struck down in 2024. In Rickards’ view, it gave federal agencies “kill shot” power over projects like this one. With it gone, he believes the door is opening for deposits that have been stuck for years.

What Happens to the Value of Locked-Up Minerals?

That’s the real question behind the ruling.

Rickards explains it with a simple example. Imagine you own the rights to a huge copper deposit. When Washington blocks it with red tape, those rights are worth “much less. Pennies on the dollar,” he says.

But when the roadblocks come down, the math changes fast.

If one deposit this big can sit untouched for nearly three decades, how much more American mineral wealth is still waiting? And who stands to benefit when it’s finally unlocked?

That’s what Rickards sets out to answer.

About This Presentation

America isn’t short on resources. According to Jim Rickards, it’s short on access. In this free presentation, called The American Birthright, he explains why deposits like Arizona’s Resolution Mine could be part of a far bigger story about American mineral wealth, and why he believes the rights tied to those deposits could become far more valuable as the roadblocks fall. Watch it here.

About Jim Rickards

Jim Rickards has spent five decades working with the highest levels of the U.S. government and financial system. He was an advisor to the White House and the Federal Reserve. In the 1980s, he helped the U.S. end the Iranian Hostage Crisis. In the 1990s, Alan Greenspan summoned him to help contain a $1.9 trillion banking crisis. He has also briefed members of the U.S. intelligence community on financial threats.

Derek Warren
Public Relations Manager
Paradigm Press Group
Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com