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Indonesia: No checks on coal mining, says government report

Richard — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:56:33 +0000

Indonesia is the world’s top coal exporter. However, limitations in the supervision of its extraction may be placing the country at risk of massive financial losses and environmental damage. That’s the conclusion of an investigation, recently carried out by the country’s Supreme Audit Agency. The audit claims that more than 1,000 mining companies across the country have failed to comply with environment-related requirements.

Among London-listed companies involved in coal projects in Indonesia are BHP Billiton and Churchill Mining.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/11684.

London2012: an Olympian exercise in corporate greenwashing

Richard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:30:50 +0000

Amidst its lofty rhetoric about excellence and sustainability the London Olympics have chosen some of the world’s most unethical companies as corporate sponsors. Phil England presents powerful first-hand testimonies from victims and campaigners dismayed and angry at this betrayal.

See http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/london2012-olympian-exercise-corporate-greenwashing/.

Deadline looms for Bakrie group to resolve covenant breach

Richard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:55:45 +0000

Indonesian group Bakrie has until Friday to resolve a covenant breach on a $437 million loan following a drop in the price of its London-listed coal miner Bumi Plc last week, sources familiar with the loan said on Monday. The breach was the latest in a series of debt problems for Bakrie Group, one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates and which avoided a debt crisis last year by selling a stake in Bumi Plc to an Indonesian investor for $1 billion. Credit Suisse sent a notice on behalf of lenders to the borrower following the covenant breach, after Bumi Plc shares – pledged as collateral against the borrowing – slid 3.8 percent over the course of last week, according to the sources, who declined to be identified because the matter was not public.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=150040&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Churchill seeks $2bn from Indonesia over coal dispute

Richard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:49:36 +0000

London-listed Churchill Mining plc has been in bitter dispute with Indonesian authorities over control of one of the country’s largest coal deposits. Now, the company is threatening to resort to international arbitration.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11633.…
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Indonesian groups condemn court ruling over Newmont’s waste disposal

Richard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:45:22 +0000

Dozens of student demonstrators pelted the office of Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) after a court ruling allowing the US company to continue dumping tailings in a nearby bay. A year ago, several environmental organisations urged the government to ban the practice. They claim it violates the country’s National Strategy and Plan of Action on Biodiversity, drawn up in 2003 by the government and environmental organisations. An appeal against the court ruling is now being planned.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11632.

Newmont is a US company with British investment: among investors in Newmont are UK-based Blackrock World Mining Trust and AXA Investment Managers UK. See http://moneytometal.org/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&button=&search=newmont.

Indonesian mine workers bludgeoned by state security forces

Richard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:30:16 +0000

The world’s leading mineworkers federation, ICEM, has vigorously condemned recent attacks against employees of one of Indonesia’s biggest mines. A military brigade, serving the interests of London-listed Bumi Resources, has allegedly severely beaten twenty workers, causing them to be hospitalised. The men were protesting against the company’s failure to implement an agreement, negotiated last October at the country’s KPC coal mines. Although workers at Freeport-Rio Tinto copper-gold operations in Papua have now won some concessions, following extremely brutal action by “security” forces earlier this year, their own battle for basic rights is far from over. Comments Dick Blin of ICEM: “There always has been an indigenous movement here to stop all mining, and the [recent] strike gave this movement new momentum”.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11631.

Indonesia tries keeping its minerals at home

Richard — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:52:09 +0000

Indonesia is considering imposing a hefty tax on mineral exports to curb over-exploitation of the country’s resources, as companies scramble to beat a 2014 law requiring ores be upgraded on-shore. It’s a rational follow-up to the government’s quasi-nationalisation of the mining industry, announced earlier this year. It would affect London-listed mining companies BHP Billiton, Bumi, Churchill and Rio Tinto, among others.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11611.

Unrest in Indonesia’s Mines: Local Chaos and Global Injustice

Richard — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:50:59 +0000

Buried in Indonesia’s rich soil is a minefield of brutality, literally. Last year, the Grasberg mine of the Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold (in which Rio Tinto has a major investment and from which it profits enormously), one of the largest such operations in the world, shut down after thousands of workers launched a strike to demand higher wages. Work recently resumed, but the suffering continues while officials and multinationals maneuver to manage Southeast Asia’s resource curse.

See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-chen/unrest-in-indonesias-mines_b_1408221.html.

Bumi approves shake-up but Nat Rothschild to stay on

michaela — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:48:45 +0000

The board of Indonesian coal miner Bumi Plc has approved a shake-up that will bring in a new chairman after demands from key investors but will also retain co-founder Nat Rothschild as director.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=148105&sn=Detail&pid=92730.

Will global miners buckle down to tougher government demands?

michaela — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:34:50 +0000

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government proposed new legislation, aimed at increasing domestic ownership and revenue from foreign-based mining operations. Last year, Ernst & Young also identified at least 25 countries that have increased, or plan to raise, their governments’ income via taxes or royalties. Does this mean mining companies are now ready and willing to play by some “new rules”? Whatever they may say now, it may take only another run on mineral prices and profits for their current “reasonableness” to turn sour.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11567.

When it rains, it pours for BHP

michaela — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:26:07 +0000

A leaked email reveals that BHP Billiton never intended to negotiate new work practices with Australia’s leading mineworkers union. This is despite the world’s biggest mining company having previously committed itself to such negotiations, as strikes continued to disrupt Queensland’s coal fields. Last month BHP Billiton threatened to shift Aus$10 billion of investment from Queensland to Indonesia if it couldn’t get its way with the workers.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11548.

Indonesia says foreign miners must grant 51% ownership to domestic companies

michaela — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:23:43 +0000

The two largest foreign-owned mining companies operating in Indonesia have brushed off “threats”, posed by a recent government announcement that they must increase domestic ownership in the country’s mineral resources. At present it doesn’t seem clear whether such ownership would be vested in the state per se – thus amounting to nationalisation – or in Indonesian-registered enterprises. Until this is clarified, we won’t know whether the proposal will affect companies, such as Bumi Resources plc, based in the UK. Through its affiliates, this is the largest global thermal coal producer, currently owned 47% by the Bakrie Group, 10% by Bukit Mutiara – both Indonesian – and 10% by Nat Rothschild of London.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11550.

BHP Billiton threatens to shift multi-billion coal investment to Indonesia

michaela — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:42:48 +0000

Australia’s main mineworkers union may soon win effective control of Queensland’s coal fields, the world’s largest single source of coking coal. If this happens, BHP Billiton has threatened to shift a planned Aus$10 billion coal mining investment to Indonesia. Last November, the Australian mega-miner announced it would start work on the US$1.34 billion IndoMet project in Kalimantan “within weeks”, along with its domestic partner, PT Adaro Energy. Annual output of coking coal by IndoMet could reach five million metric tons by 2017.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11536.

Report calls for stricter regulation of UK mining companies

Richard — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:40:48 +0000

Bumi plc's Kaltim Prima Coal mine in Indonesia. Photo: JATAM

London Mining Network has today published a report calling on the government to include a review of regulatory regimes as part of the current discussion on the Financial Services Bill. The Bill is replacing the existing FSA with a new body, the Financial Conduct Authority, which will inherit the FSA’s role as UK Listing Authority.

Looking at eight case studies, the report, UK-Listed Mining Companies & the Case for Stricter Oversight, argues that:

Many mining companies listed in London have very poor records of complicity in human rights abuse, environmental pollution or destruction of people’s cultures and livelihoods around the world.
Once listed in London, some mining companies have continued to flout the law in the countries where they operate, or engage in damaging tax avoidance, or break accepted international mining industry standards, with no move by the UK Listing Authority to discipline them.

The report follows on from dramatic developments at the end of February in which a proposed opencast coal mine in Bangladesh being developed by GCM, one of the eight case studies used in the report, was condemned as “threatening human rights” by an independent panel of UN experts.

John McDonnell MP, who will be chairing the Parliamentary launch of the report today, said:

“We cannot stand by and witness these global mining companies brutally impoverishing and destroying the lives and environments of whole communities. We need not only to expose this exploitation but also to demand that a firm system of international regulation, control and accountability is put in place that halts the destructive activities of these corporate pirates.”

Peter Frankental, the Economic Relations Programme Director of Amnesty International UK, said:

“This report by London Mining Network presents a challenge to the Government to ensure that the proposed regulatory body has the powers to require mining companies to meet acceptable human rights and environmental standards as a condition for listing on the London Stock Exchange”.

Richard Solly, Co-ordinator of London Mining Network, said:

“This report provides a reminder to the Government of the need for measures to ensure that the London Stock Exchange does not continue to act as a repository for dodgy companies that harm the environment and abuse human rights. The ease with which such companies can list in the UK is an indictment of the existing regulatory framework”.

The report can be downloaded from http://londonminingnetwork.org/docs/lmn-the-case-for-stricter-oversight.pdf.

The eight London-listed mining companies looked at tin the report are African Barrick, Brinkley Mining, African Minerals, London Mining, Vedanta Resources, Glencore, GCM Resources and Bumi.

The Government has introduced its Financial Services Bill, which is being considered in Committee between 21 February and 20 March.

* Open-pit coal mine project in Bangladesh threatens human rights – UN experts http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41398&Cr=Bangladesh&Cr1

See also Stop the City of London laundering blood money from mining at http://www.newint.org/blog/2012/03/12/city-of-london-laundering-mining-money/.

Presentation on the Monterrico case given at the report launch

In 2005 Minera Majaz, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British company Monterrico Metals, was working hard in the northern highlands of Piura in Peru to get its social licence and start the operation of its first copper project, known as the Majaz mine. What happened there is important because it illustrates the impact of the mining conflict on HR, the role played by criminalisation as a strategy that clears the way for mining projects and finally the impunity with which these activities are carried out. The project is currently owned by the Chinese Zijin consortium.

On the first of August 2005, thousands of people started a march protesting against the Majaz mine. Their intention was to arrive at the mining camp to let management know that the mine was not welcome. Before they reached the camp, they were ambushed by police, soldiers and security forces with tear gas and live ammunition, whilst being tracked by aircraft. Twenty nine people were caught and held within the mining camp where, they were tortured. One man was killed, and several were seriously injured .

As part of the follow-up strategy, shortly after the ambush Félix Toledo, the public prosecutor began a legal persecution, and accused 107 people of a range of crimes including terrorism. Furthermore, leaders from several nearby communities also reported their houses being searched by the police without a warrant, being detained and threatened they would be killed unless they named the ring-leaders of the protest.

Given that local authorities simply ignored what was happening, the organisation FEDEPAZ (Federación Ecuménica para el Desarrollo y la Paz, a church organisation) requested that the Public Ombudsman investigate the police and corporate persecution against campesino leaders. The National Coordination for HR went a step further and introduced a lawsuit against the public prosecutor for failing in his duty to investigate corporate abuse. Nothing happened until five years later, when in 2010 the judicial system rejected charges against the prosecutor’s behaviour, alleging lack of evidence. All cases against the protesters were dropped.

I would also like to mention that among the 29 people detained there were two women. During their illegal detention the women were not only tortured but also sexually abused. What happened to these women is important because they were treated as “spoils from the raids”. The sexual abuse of women in the context of the mining conflict sends a powerful message to women: a message that seeks to put “women in their place”; a message that says “Women’s place is not with men, and sexual abuse is the price to pay when women choose to deviate from accepted customs”.

Thanks to Leigh Day, the 29 victims of this terrifying attack were financially compensated, and the brutality with which they were treated by a British company made the front page of The Guardian. But we mustn’t forget that victims of corporate and state abuse in the context of this mining project run into hundreds of people and that they haven’t received any kind of compensation at all. Neither the government nor the corporation admit to any wrong doing. This victimisation of ordinary people is often forgotten. But we must not forget that people detained and tortured by the Monterrico were left with permanent scars such as “suicide thoughts”. Also, whilst most of the men tortured during the protest returned to loving families, women didn’t have that safe haven as they experienced rejection by their own families.

Glevys Rondon, Co-ordinator, Latin American Mining Monitoring Programme.

Bakrie Group expects Rothschild to remain on Bumi board

michaela — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:52:58 +0000

Key shareholder in Bumi Plc, Bakrie group, expects financier Nat Rothschild to remain on Bumi’s board after a March meeting at which he was expected to be removed from his role as co-chairman.

See http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=145723&sn=Detail&pid=92730…
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