Press release: no embargo
from PARTiZANS (People Against RTZ and Subsidiaries)
218 Liverpool Road, London N1 1LE England
tel/fax: (44) -171-700 6189
e-mail: colren@gn.apc.org
RTZ LINKS UP WITH FREEPORT:
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HADES"
The world's most notorious mining company has taken a leading
share in the world's most infamous minerals project.
British corporation RTZ is to purchase at least 10.4% - and
possibly more than 18% - in the US company Freeport McMoran Copper
and Gold (FMCG). Already one of the world's major producers of
these two metals, FMCG has been criticised for many years by human
rights, environmental and indigenous support groups, for its
operations since the early 1960's in West Papua (Irian Jaya - the
western half of the island of New Guinea). This Indigenous Nation
- occupied by Indonesia since a fraudulent "act of free choice" in
1969 - is the site of Freeport's Grasberg mine.
In 1991, on signing a major new agreement with the Indonesian
regime, Freeport's then President, James Moffett, proudly boasted
that the company was "...thrusting a spear of economic development
into the heartland of Irian Jaya." According to many observers,
however, the consequences of that thrust have already been major
river pollution, deaths and suffering following the forced removal
of Indigenous peoples, and widespread sickness caused by chemical
and acidic emmissions.
RTZ plc (formerly Rio Tinto-Zinc) is also buying 40% of Freeport's
Contract of Work (CoW), thus giving both companies access to
around nine million acres (sic) of largely Indigenous territory in
the West Papua Highlands. The people have never surrendered their
traditional rights to land, nor been democratically consulted in
any way about mining plans.
In two separate, but related moves, RTZ is buying 25% of
Freeport's Huelva smelter in Spain - another longstanding target
of environmental criticism - while Freeport has announced the go-
ahead for Indonesia's first copper smelter, at Gresik in East
Java. Its partners here are Mitsubishi of Japan, and Fluor of the
USA.
Indigenous Peoples at risk
RTZ is the world's largest mining company. It operates several of
the world's biggest open-pit mines and produces almost every metal
and mineral on the planet. A significant proportion of its
operations is in the territories of Indigenous Nations (such as
Aboriginal Australians, native Americans, Igorot Filipinos,
Finnish Saami) which have never consented to mining. The
company's most notorious venture is the Panguna copper/gold mine,
situated in eastern New Guinea, on the island of Bougainville.
Landowners, incensed at the mine's pollution and destruction, and
protesting at the denial of adequate compensation, have been
waging a war of independence for Bougainville since 1988.
In 1992, RTZ was named, by the international Indigenous Rights
organisation Survival International, as the Number One corporate
threat to Indigenous Peoples in the Americas.
Many RTZ operations are in areas of prime ecological value or
sensitivity - such as Kalimantan, Ecuador, the Philippines and
Papua New Guinea. Earlier this year, Friends of the Earth (FOE)
launched an international campaign to halt RTZ plans to mine
mineral sands in Madagascar.
Under the newly-announced deal, RTZ will benefit from access to
Freeport's huge West Papua leases, its relatively low cost of
copper production, and a share in its Spanish and Indonesian
smelters. Freeport will benefit from RTZ's unrivalled financial
strength, its ability to raise new capital, its expertise in
exploration, and its unique capacity to exploit huge deposits by
open-pit mining.
Supporting Indonesia's military dictatorship
Both companies enjoy a favoured relationship with the despotic
regime of Indonesia's President Suharto. RTZ's 49%-owned
affiliate, CRA, operates the country's biggest gold mine - at
Kelian, in rainforested East Kalimantan - in which the President
has a direct personal interest.
Freeport is the biggest single foreign exchange earner for the
regime. In 1991, Mines and Energy Minister, Ida Bagus Sudjana,
claimed that "Freeport is the pioneer in Irian Jaya, and the
government will continue support for the sake of the people of
Irian Jaya."
"This is a tie-up which other mining companies usually only dream
about" comments Roger Moody, a mining consultant for Indigenous
Peoples, and founder member of Partizans, the group which has
monitored the company's activities for seventeen years.
"It will provide much-needed credibility for the Sukarno regime,
international support for which has been faltering since the
recent massacres in East Timor. But, for the Indigenous Peoples of
West Papua, it could be a marriage in Hades. Hopefully ngo's which
have previously been fighting these two companies on separate
fronts, will now join forces.
"The expansion of mining into the mountains of West Papua must be
stopped at all costs. Indigenous rights, and the unique ecology of
the region, demand it."
Further information: please call, or fax: 44-171 700 6189
[There is a Background Briefing on the RTZ/Freeport deal, which
may be enclosed with this Press Release. If not, you may request a
copy from the above address or phone/fax number]