Rapid City, South Dakota - Indigenous groups are celebrating a huge victory after a South Dakota mining company announced it was canceling a drilling project in the sacred Black Hills.

"Today, NDN Collective was notified that Pete Lien & Sons sent a letter to the United States Forest Service, officially withdrawing their plan of operations for the Rochford Mineral Exploratory Drilling Project (RMEDP) at Pe’ Sla," the group posted on Instagram on Friday.

The letter indicates the company does not intend to file another plan of operations for the site.

The news came after a federal judge this week temporarily halted the graphite drilling project in response to a lawsuit against the US Forest Service brought by NDN Collective, the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, and Earthworks and another complaint by nine Indigenous tribes.

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Exploratory drilling in the project began in the central Black Hills (He Sapa) last month near Pe' Sla, a sacred ceremonial site of the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota peoples.

The US Forest Service approved a permit for exploratory drilling in the Pe' Sla area in February, allegedly without consulting with Indigenous tribes.

The move sparked outrage and powerful resistance from Indigenous groups.

"Today’s successful protection of Pe’ Sla, which is the result of courageous land defense by the community, strategic legal action, and collective prayer, marks a great victory for the people and Mother Earth," NDN Collective President Wizipan Garriott said in a statement.

"We must build on this win to continue the people’s work to secure a bright future for generations to come – in the Black Hills and beyond."

Valeriah Big Eagle, director of He Sapa Initiatives at NDN Collective, echoed, "When we ground together in truth and what is right, led by our spiritual leaders and the next generation of warriors, we are unstoppable. This is just the beginning."