(Reuters) - A Native American group on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block Rio Tinto and BHP from gaining access to Arizona land needed to build a massive copper mine, a last-ditch legal effort in a long-running case that pits religious and cultural rights against the energy transition.

Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache tribe and conservationists, filed an appeal seeking to overturn a March ruling from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowing the federal government to swap acreage with the mining companies for their Resolution Copper project.