US court upholds Arizona land swap deal for Rio Tinto copper mine

A US appeals court has ruled that the federal government may give thousands of acres in Arizona to Rio Tinto for a copper mine, upholding a lower court's ruling and rejecting a request from Native Americans who said the land has religious and cultural import.

The 2-1 ruling from the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, issued late Friday night, essentially defers to a 2014 decision made by the US Congress and then-President Barack Obama to give the land to Rio for its Resolution Copper project as part of a complex land swap deal.