Religious freedom campaigners will bankroll a new legal challenge against the development of the largest copper mine in the United States, backing a Native American group that wants to tear up a deal to transfer land to Rio Tinto and BHP.

Lawyers acting for Apache Stronghold – a group representing some, but not all, members of the San Carlos Apache tribe that live close to the Resolution Copper project – have asked the Court of Appeals to halt a 2014 deal to transfer federal land for the mine.