A U.S. federal judge said he will rule by May 14 on whether to block the Trump administration from transferring Arizona land to Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) and BHP to build a major copper mine opposed by Native Americans. The long-running and complex legal case pits the religious rights of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache people against rising demand for copper for the energy transition and the geopolitics of China’s wide control over the critical minerals industry. The dispute centers on the federally owned Oak Flat Campground where many Apache worship their deities. The site sits atop a reserve of more than 40 billion pounds ... (full story)