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Amungme leader warns Freeport it could be closed down

Richard — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:56:09 +0000

The vast Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesian-occupied West Papua is a continuing source of tension between the Indonesian government and those campaigning for West papuan independence. London-based Rio Tinto helped to finance the mine’s expansion and continues to profit from it. The mine is operated by PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Freepor McMoRan. West Papuan Amungme Indigenous leader Anthonius Alomang, is now threatening to close the mine down.

See http://westpapuamedia.info/2012/01/24/amungme-leader-warns-freeport-it-could-be-closed-down/.

Proud Indonesian Miners’ End Strike at Grasberg

Richard — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:34:43 +0000

An agreement was signed in Jakarta on 14 December between PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union (SP KEP SPSI) and management of the world’s largest gold and second largest copper mining complex – Grasberg in Papua province – that will end a 94-day strike on Saturday, 17 December.

The strike pitted a low-wage but determined and enlightened workforce against a global extractive resource company, US-based Freeport-McMoRan that has Grasberg at top of its massive revenue stream. (London-listed Rio Tinto has been indispensable to Freeport, acting as its critical 40% joint-venture partner at the mine for over a decade.)

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11374&l=1.

In Indonesia, Anger Against Mining Giant Grows

Richard — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:38:10 +0000

A foreign mining company, protected by hundreds of soldiers, extracts precious resources from a remote tropical forest. The mining enrages indigenous tribes, who resist. It may sound like a movie script, but it is in fact the story of the world’s largest gold mine, located high in the mountains of Indonesia’s Papua province and owned by Freeport-McMoRan, an American mining conglomerate.

(The Grasberg mine’s internal “security” is in the hands of PT Securicor Indonesia – part of G4S, the world’s most extended network of its kind that is based in the English county of West Sussex. London-listed Rio Tinto has also been indispensable to Freeport, acting as its critical 40% joint-venture partner at the mine for over a decade.)

See http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142346962/in-indonesia-anger-against-mining-giant-grows.

Workers at the mine have announced that the strike will be extended till 15 December. Negotiations are still ongoing.The union representing the Freeport workers, PUK SP – KEP SPSI, is asking for financial donations to support the strikers.

See http://aawl.org.au/content/donate-freeport-strikers.

See also: Twenty-two years of top-down resource exploitation in Papua
Among the companies benefiting from Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua is Britain’s Rio Tinto. See article from LMN member group Down to Earth’s November newsletter: http://www.downtoearth-indonesia.org/story/twenty-two-years-top-down-resource-exploitation-papua.

BHP Billiton – Dirty Energy

Richard — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:12:51 +0000

BHP Billiton holds its Australian AGM on Thursday 17 November. A coalition of organisations including London Mining Network has produced an ‘alternative annual report’: BHP Billiton – Dirty Energy.

To read the alternative report, see http://bhpbillitonwatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/bhpb_report_sml.pdf.

Borneo mines lure Rothschild into the wild

Richard — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:15:47 +0000

It was supposed to be a union of two legendary business dynasties, one West, one East. Nathaniel Philip Rothshild, the 40-year-old scion of the storied European banking family, forged a deal a year ago with the Bakrie brothers, one of Indonesia’s mightiest business families, to create an international coal-mining titan.

That deal last November seemed incredible from the start; the dream of creating the world’s biggest thermal coal company, with mines in Indonesian Borneo, and aiming to be one of the biggest listed companies on the London exchange.

Now a year later the partnership behind Bumi plc could be on the brink of collapse.

See http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/14/us-rothschild-bakrie-idUSTRE7AC00420111114.

Papua: Freeport-Rio Tinto labour battles have no end in sight

Richard — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:20:07 +0000

Indonesian Police accused of accepting bribes

There’s no end in sight to the world’s biggest wages-related mining strike, as Freeport workers continue blockading (West) Papua’s Grasberg operations, following Indonesian police attacks that have already claimed several lives.

Meanwhile, the police have admitted receiving money from the company to perform “security” duties: funds one spokesperson described as “lunch money” but the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) calls “bribery”. Paying the police to assist in breaking lawful industrial action – and committing grave human rights abuses as a result – clearly runs counter to Indonesian law.

According to a report in Indonesian Tribunnews (cited by Mineweb on 7 November 2011), Indonesia’s National Police has now agreed to allow the KPK to investigate these allegations. A police spokesman recently admitted the force had received US$14 million last year from the company and that, among the alleged beneficiaries, were 356 police officers who each received US$130 per month.

The Grasberg mine’s internal “security” is in the hands of PT Securicor Indonesia – part of G4S, the world’s most extended network of its kind that is based in the English county of West Sussex.

London-listed Rio Tinto has also been indispensable to Freeport, acting as its critical 40% joint-venture partner at the mine for over a decade.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11285.

See also Indonesian National Police to permit Freeport security funding probe, http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page36?oid=138986&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Indonesia ‘s Bakrie to sell 23.8% Bumi stake for $1 bn

Richard — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:13:28 +0000

Indonesia ‘s Bakrie Group is selling a 23.8 percent stake in London-listed Bumi Plc, its venture with financier Nat Rothschild, to coal miner PT Borneo Lumbung Energi in a $1 billion deal to avoid a loan default. The deal with Borneo, which is backed by Indonesian businessman Samin Tan, would help Bakrie pay off the bulk of a $1.35 billion loan and extricate itself from a debt crunch that has weighed on the share price of one of the world’s largest coal exporters, Bumi Resources , following the 2008 financial crisis. The agreement between the Bakrie Group, run by one of Indonesia ‘s most powerful families, and Tan marks the second time in three years that the Bakrie family has had to scramble together a transaction to ease its debt. The deal was sealed after Swiss-based Glencore, the world’s largest diversified commodity trader, dropped out of talks on refinancing the Bakrie loan.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=138695&sn=Detail.

Papuans struggle – and die – as mining conflict intensifies

Richard — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:53:59 +0000

There’s no sign that conflicts between trade unionists and the management of the world’s largest gold-copper mine are close to resolution. On the contrary, within recent days several more people have been murdered in Freeport-Rio Tinto’s huge Grasberg lease area in Papua (West Papua). Moreover, one Indigenous delegate was shot dead by police, and 300 arrested, during a Congress held last week by the Papuan Peoples Congress.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/11262.

See also They ask for wages, not bullets, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/10/24/they-ask-wages-not-bullets.html
Striking Freeport miners shot dead in Indonesian strike, http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11236
and Norway’s ‘ethical divestment’ from Rio Tinto, http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201182913613680545.html.

Rothschild ‘Confident’ in Bakrie Loan Talks

Richard — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:35:06 +0000

Nathaniel Rothschild, co-chairman of miner Bumi Plc, says he has “total confidence” that Indonesia’s Bakrie family, Bumi’s largest shareholders, would succeed with plans to refinance a $1.35 billion (855.73 million pound) loan, but said talks with potential partners did not include marketing rights for Bumi’s coal. The Bakries are in the final stages of talks to refinance a $1.35 billion loan obtained in March to consolidate their debt, after mandatory repayment was triggered by a sharp drop in Bumi’s London shares. The loan is backed by the Bakrie family’s 47 percent stake in London-listed Bumi Plc.

See http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/rothschild-confident-in-bakrie-loan-talks/472187.

Glencore nears $800-$900 mln loan for Indonesia’s Bakrie

Richard — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:34:05 +0000

London-listed Glencore is close to lending $800-$900 million to Indonesia’s Bakrie coal mining group to help it repay its $1.35 billion debt and stave off a potential default.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=137521&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Indonesian coal battles are heating up

Richard — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:33:11 +0000

UK-based Churchill Mining has lost its right to exploit one of Indonesia’s largest and most promising new coal fields, also in East Kalimantan. In a complex feud between the company and its Indonesian financial backer, Churchill was accused of having taken over leases in East Kutai, officially handed to another domestic firm. Although Churchill has filed an appeal against this decision in Indonesia’s Supreme Court, it’s anyone’s guess as to how long it will take before being heard.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/11254.

BHP Billiton AGM protest, London, 20 October 2011

Richard — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:13:14 +0000

photo: Jane Calliste

Protesters from the Occupy LSX demonstration marched from St Paul’s cathedral to join anti-nuclear campaigners, supporters of London Mining Network member group Colombia Solidarity Campaign and others outside yesterday’s BHP Billiton AGM. See short video at http://vimeo.com/31028821 and report at http://london.indymedia.org/articles/10589.

Inside the AGM, Julio Gomez from Colombia confronted the company over its activities in Colombia. Julio is President of the Federation of Communities Affected and Displaced by Mining Exploitation in La Guajira (FECODEMIGUA).

This Federation was constituted because of the disappearance of communities, the loss of lands and the violations of people’s rights over the last thirty years by the Cerrejon mine, one-third owned by BHP Billiton.

Julio said:

“The benefits obtained in this part of the world from coal mining in La Guajira, such as electrical power and shareholders’ dividends, are stained with blood. This is because of
· the displacement and uprooting of communities neighbouring the Cerrejon mine;
· the humiliations, threats, and persecution suffered by leaders of these communities;
· the destruction and pollution of nature;
· and the exploitation of mine workers.

Many of you may be aware of the forced eviction of the community of Tabaco ten years ago, of the situation of other communities and that of the workers. What you are probably not aware of is that many other communities were destroyed completely before BHP Billiton bought into the mine – among them indigenous and Afro-descendant communities including Manantial, Palmarito, El Descanso, Caracolí, Sarahita and others located along the railway line between the mine and the port.

BHP Billiton has not accepted responsibility for the disappearance of these communities, but it ought to do so, because it has acquired the rights and benefits generated by this business and with it the responsibility for past and future activities.

It is unfair that while you are obtaining massive profits, we suffer from high rates of respiratory illness and cancers, malnutrition, high infant mortality, violations of our rights, land rendered infertile, loss of livelihood, and descent into poverty…

Meanwhile, Cerrejon Coal is carrying out publicity campaigns trying to show how generous it is. It uses the slogan ‘responsible mining’, which is completely inaccurate. Cerrejon seems to spend substantial amounts of money on publicity about social responsibility, but not enough on social responsibility itself.

My question, therefore, is, how long do we, the communities affected by Cerrejon, have to wait for BHP Billiton to take action and demand that its subsidiary Cerrejon Coal act with justice, respect and equity towards us, and that it have an effective and honest department of social responsibility?”

BHP Billiton Chairman Jac Nasser replied that some of the issues raised by Julio were of long standing but that others were new and alarming. He said that not everything the company did was perfect but that they had good intent and that he believed the company was making good progress and contributing to the local and national economy through taxes and social investment. He said that he would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Julio to discuss the issues with Julio in more detail. (Julio took him at his word, conversing with him after the AGM – though they were unable to ‘sit down’ for lack of available seating.) Julio made clear that if Cerrejon Coal’s activities were so beneficial to the communities in La Guajira, he would not have come from Colombia to raise these issues at the company’s AGM.

Representatives of LMN member groups PIPLinks and Down to Earth challenged the Board about BHP Billiton’s plans for uranium mining at Yeelirrie in Western Australia, the massive expansion of its enormous Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia, its plans for coal mining in forested areas of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, and its refusal to accept Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior Informed Consent under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Statements were presented from Aboriginal Elders in the areas of BHP Billiton’s uranium projects in Australia.

19th October 2011: To BHP Billiton’s London Shareholders and the Parliament of Great Britain

In 2010 and again in 2011 we instructed our representative body- the Central Desert Native Title Services (CDNTS) Ltd that we, the Traditional Custodians of Yeelirrie, are strongly opposed to the development of uranium mine at Yeelirrie in Western Australia. Yeelirrie is currently under occupation from BHP Billiton who is pursuing a uranium mine application with the State of WA.
After extensive discussion at the meetings between the Traditional Custodians and the CDNTS in 2010 and 2011 the group arrived at the decision to oppose the development. In 2011 this decision was unanimous among the group.

Traditional Custodians have strong concerns about the safety and management of radiation and the effects that mining Yeelirrie will have on the well-being of our country and our people.

The place Yeelirrie, in our language, means the place of death. We are custodians of that place; it is our responsibility to keep that poison, the uranium, where it is. If that uranium leaves our country and does damage to someone, that’s our responsibility and we take that very seriously.

We have been to the BHP Billiton Annual General Meetings two years in a row, in Brisbane and in Perth and will go again this year to Melbourne to tell the company and their shareholders that we don’t want uranium mining on our country. Despite our position they continue to pursue the uranium mine and avoid engaging with us. We have been very clear about our position.

Kado Muir – Chairperson of the West Australia Nuclear Free Alliance and Ngalia Traditional Custodian
Richard Evans – Koara Tribal elder

I, Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna elder from Lake Eyre, make the following statement to the BHP Billiton AGM and shareholders:

We never did want Olympic Dam to develop in the first place under Western Mining.
The same thing applies to you. We don’t want you to continue with Olympic Dam.
In fact we want you to shut up shop immediately and leave that area.
By your influence, the State and Federal Governments have sold us out.

For over 40,000 years we’ve been able to maintain and look after our country.
Under the ancient culture and law, digging up and destroying sacred sites is prohibited.
The desert to us is just as important as the cities.

Because of the lack of consultation and understanding in the first place, and because of greed and selfishness, it seems easy to you people who are foreign to this land to destroy the ancient structure.

We have no alternative but to continue to expose you as wrongdoers. It is a criminal offence that you people are committing, and you are already branded as criminals.

We are telling you to reverse the decision to expand and make an open cut mine, and cease this operation at Olympic Dam immediately.

Find a good use to spend your money. You will feel better as human beings.
I hope this message gets through to you.

I am inviting you to come and talk to reach a better understanding of the ancient dreamtime structure.

Kevin Buzzacott. 19 October 2011

Meanwhile, there were protests in Adelaide, South Australia…

MEDIA RELEASE, 20 October 2011

A giant radioactive waste barrel has just been erected on Grenfell Street opposite City Cross Arcade to mark the introduction of the new Roxby Downs Indenture Agreement into SA Parliament.

“This barrel can be used to conceptualise the volume of radioactive tailings that will leak from the tailings dams of the newly approved Olympic Dam open-pit uranium mine” said Riley Ashton of Protest BHP Adelaide.

“This leak will contaminate the aquifer with radioactive isotopes and heavy metals, and threaten groundwater dependent ecosystems for thousands of years” said Mr Ashton.

“BHP Billiton’s Environmental Impact Statement states that the maximum rate of seepage from the radioactive tailings dams in the first decade will be 8 million litres per day. That’s over 90 of these barrels each day, amounting to over 33 000 of these barrels each year (approximately 2922 million litres per year), and equivalent to more than 7.5 barrels every 2 hours,” said Mr Ashton.

“At 40 years of operation, the new tailings dams at Olympic Dam will have leaked well over 47.5 billion litres of radioactive waste into the underlying rock and groundwater, approximately 540 000 of these barrels” said Mr Ashton.

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” continued Mr Ashton.

This coincides with a community rally at BHP Billiton’s Adelaide office, protesting the recent approval of the Olympic Dam Mine.

For comment, more information or photos contact:
Riley Ashton: 0421 593 902
Nectaria Calan: 0432 388 665

and in Perth, Western Australia…

Peaceful protest calls for an end to big exemptions for the Big Australian

More than 40 people from all over Perth gathered at BHP Billiton’s city offices on 20 October to protest the proposed Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion and remind the mining giant that there is no social license to mine uranium in Western Australia.

Despite BHP sending dire warnings of protestor violence to its Perth-based employees, the event took on a carnival atmosphere with a cheeky BHPeep Show featuring doubles of BHP CEO Marius Kloppers and Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke.

Part of a national day of action timed to coincide with the BHP Billiton Annual General Meeting being held in London, the protest followed Minister Burke approving the expansion of South Australia’s Olympic Dam uranium mine last week. The multinational mining giant is also pursuing a uranium mine at Yeelirrie, 70kms South West of Wiluna in central WA.

See http://ccwa.org.au/media/peaceful-protest-calls-end-big-exemptions-big-australian.

Greens tying up Olympic Dam with new parliamentary inquiry, $30 billion project faces delays

News reports from Australia say BHP Billiton may face delays in getting approvals for its $30 billion Olympic Dam expansion, as Greens and other minor parties holding the balance of power in the South Australian Parliament push for an inquiry into the project. See http://www.mining.com/2011/10/18/greens-tying-up-olympic-dam-with-new-parliamentary-inquiry-30-billion-project-faces-delays/.

Back in Britain, Julio Gomez accompanied his visit to the BHP Billiton AGM with meetings with Coal Action Scotland in Edinburgh, UNISON North East in Newcastle, Latin American community groups, workers’ organisations and solidarity campaigns in London and the South East, officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Peers and Members of Parliament, and the Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group. He spoke at a well-attended public meeting in the Houses of Parliament the evening before the BHP Billiton AGM. His visit to Britain was organised by London Mining Network and the Colombia Solidarity Campaign.

Miner shot dead in Indonesian strike against Freeport-Rio Tinto

Richard — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:23:46 +0000

Security forces have opened fire on striking Freeport miners, killing at least one person and injuring six others. More than 1,000 workers were involved in the clashes on Monday at the Grasberg complex, one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines, in Indonesia’s Papua province.

Grasberg is operated by US-owned company Freeport Indonesia but Rio Tinto helped finance mine expansion and receives a large proportion of the mine’s profits.

See http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/10/2011101052724758754.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/indonesian-forces-striking-mine-workers.

A history of violence at Indonesia mine

Richard — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 09:45:16 +0000

Rio Tinto has cosy ties with the Indonesian military, who have a long history of human rights abuses.

See http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/08/2011828142858857222.html#.TokJmXDLgQ0.mailto.

Move Beyond Coal, Now

Richard — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:32:59 +0000

The coal industry is racing to ensure its place in our world’s future before safer, healthier and cheaper clean energy takes hold.

Ill-equipped to compete and survive in the emerging clean energy economy it must rely on political clout, misleading public relations campaigns, and the externalization of devastating human health, social, and environmental costs.

In community after community around the world this has stirred a toxic brew of deadly pollution, lost livelihoods, intimidation, and corruption.

This publication gives voice to the brave activists from around the world whose daily struggle bears witness to this ongoing tragedy as they counter the ravenous nature of this dirty, dangerous, and outdated industry. Rather than be bowed by the industry’s onslaught, these activists are leading communities across the world to band together and fight back. Their valiant struggle comes at a time when clean energy is being rapidly deployed without sacrificing communities or ecosystems. An inconvenient truth the coal industry is fighting to suppress as it attempts to claw its way into the 21st century.

From the aquamarine waters off Cirebon Indonesia, to the historic Appalachian mountains of the United States, to the lush biodiversity of the Konkan coast of India communities around the world are issuing a clarion call to end the coal industry’s wanton destruction and seize the momentous opportunity clean energy presents. These are their stories.

See http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/narratives/downloads/MoveBeyondCoalNow.pdf.

See also London Mining Network’s draft declaration on coal mining at http://londonminingnetwork.org/2011/07/draft-declaration-on-coal-mining/ and let us know if you agree with it.