As part of the Defense Authorization Act we are trading four square miles of Tonto National Forest in Arizona to Resolution Copper, a joint venture of the two largest mining companies in the world, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, for an unspecified piece of property.
We don't know what the final price is for the the 1.6 billion metric tons of copper that lie underground. At the current price of copper the 1.6 billion tons is worth more than $130 billion. The value of the land traded to us will be determined by an appraiser, who must be approved by Resolution Copper. If the value is less than that of our land, Resolution copper will have to pay the difference in cash.
This deal seems strange to me for a couple of reasons:
How does this figure in the Defense Authorization Act? What military purpose does it serve?
Why trade it? Why not auction it off or solicit some competition?
Why get rid of the copper at all? Many nations have government-owned mining companies.
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