Freeport Mine Workers Gather for Rally; Copper Gains (US owned company, Indonesia)

Source: Bloomberg

Freeport Mine Workers Gather for Rally; Copper Gains (Update5)

By Leony Aurora and Claire Leow

April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Workers at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s Grasberg mine in Indonesia rallied to demand higher pay in a protest that may to curb output at the world's second-largest copper mine. The price of the metal gained.
(snip)

``There are about 2,500 protesters now in the rally,'' said Alfred, deputy police chief for the Mimika regency, where Timika is located. There were 1,200 security personnel on duty, who were escorting the workers, said Alfred, who uses only one name.
(snip)

Tongoi Papua has demanded that the basic monthly salary of lowest-grade mine workers be raised to 3.6 million rupiah ($396) from 1.45 million rupiah. The group, which also wants a better career track for Papuans, has said the rally will continue until Freeport agrees to its demands.

``We are going to ask the local parliament to mediate talks between us and Freeport's management in the U.S. and Indonesia,'' Pigome said. Freeport, based in New Orleans, runs Grasberg through a local subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia.


Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a10D578xOsOY&refer=home

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Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) is the world's lowest-cost copper producer and one of the world's largest producers of copper and gold. FCX's operations are conducted through its subsidiaries, PT Freeport Indonesia, PT Irja Eastern Minerals and Atlantic Copper, S.A. FCX is headquartered in New Orleans, USA. The Council on Ethics finds that the environmental damage caused by the mining operations is extensive, long-term and irreversible. The Council notes that the authorities in many countries and key international players (the World Bank et al.) consider riverine disposal to be an unacceptable method for disposing of mine waste due to its extensive and irreversible environmental effects.



The Ecological Tragedy of Resource Extraction in West Papua
Submitted by Benedetti on January 10, 2005 - 22:41. Context & History



(Image: Freeport McMoran's Grasburg mine near Timika is the largest gold and copper mine in the world)

West Papua is a land of astounding ecological diversity. Its ecosystems range from mangroves in the lowland swamps to mountain glaciers 5,000 meters above the coral reefs. Teeming with wildlife and vegetation, it is home to at least 100,000 species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. Most have never been studied, including a vast array of medicinal plants used for centuries by the indigenous people.

Three quarters of the island is covered by the world's second largest rainforest, sometimes called "the lungs of Asia". But foreign companies now hold concessions to log or mine more than 75% of the forestland. In addition, illegal logging operations are rampant and unchecked. Clear-cut logging is prevalent and replanting, if attempted, is often impossible. The end result is a rapid and unceasing rate of species extinction, soil erosion and desecration of sacred homelands.

In the words of a local woman, "We feel bitter. They destroy the sago and damar trees, the wood and the water. There are no fish, there are no birds, there is nothing left at all."

More:
http://www.westpapua.ca/?q=node/124

Freeport has no compunction whatsoever about calling in the goons, the armed thugs, the local constabulary and other mercenaries to put down demonstrations of labor unrest, and the protesters have to know that. They're risking their lives to demand better from one of the most rapacious, greedy, bloodthirsty corporations on the planet. Good luck to them.