Mining corporations have been destroying the culture of Papua New Guinea for far too long.

Before 1970, there was little to no mineral extraction in Papua New Guinea, but ever since the 1970s mineral extraction has been the main asset of the national economy, mostly searching for Gold.

Companies looking for the highest profit possible often operate in lesser-developed foreign countries, where government standards are lax, corruption is high and business practices are poor.

I will be focusing this discussion on the American corporation Freeport-McMoRan that operates mines in one of the poorest provinces of Indonesia, West Papua.

These corporations have a massive potential to create environmental and social damage in Papua New Guinea.

In 1936, Dutch colonists discovered an Erstberg (ore mountain) in West Papua. Despite multiple colonizations over the years, the ore mountain of West Papua was untouched for over 20 years.

On March 6, 1959, New York Times reported an abundant presence of gold in the coast of West Papua. Remembering their earlier discovery, Dutch geologists were very keen to return to the mountain, now named Ertsberg.

Independance Denied

US mining company Freeport-McMoRan negotiated directly with Suharto (the corrupt president of Indonesia) for a small group of geologists to prospect this ore mountain. Suharto promised West Papua to be fruitful for Freeport.

Soon enough, geologists from Freeport are trekking through wilderness toward Ertsberg.

In the name of protecting the West from communism, on August 15, 1962, the United States & the United Nations held a meeting between Dutch and Indonesian officials. The control of West Papua was to be given to Indonesia's government.

The Indonesians started to Harass and suppress the Papuan people's identity. They were prohibited to raise their national flag and singing their national anthem. Indonesia ruled through brute force, for their own interest.

There was a national vote for the independence of Papua in 1969, less than a quarter of one per cent of the population - some 1,026 West Papuans - signed Papua's freedom to Indonesia.

This was definitely not an act of free choice. The next day West Papua was a military operated zone, the expression of national identity was banned by the Indonesian Government.

We need to think what this must've felt like for the indigenous population, less than 1% of them voted for this, this was obviously an intentional move by the Indonesian government.

Selling West Papua

Freeport signed the contract with Suharto (who at this point was the president of Indonesia).

Suharto is now a partner and they jointly created PT Freeport Indonesia (Freeport-Indonesia). This gives Freeport full rights to the Ertsberg mine. In return, Indonesia would gain large tax revenues and fees as well as 9.36 per cent shareholding. Without proper authority, Indonesia created a deal selling large areas of West Papua to the Freeport Indonesia with the intention of mining it for gold and copper.

Ertsberg did more than fulfill its promise, but alas production slowed down in the mid-1980s.

Freeport-Indonesia began exploring surroundings for more minerals. Soon after, significant copper and gold reserves were found in Grasberg, which is only a couple of miles south west of Ertsberg.

Slow Motion Genocide

Looking at Grasberg mine via the picture above, you will see a flesh-wound in the Earth like none other.

"Located about 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) above sea level, open-pit (above ground) mining has bored a hole through the top of the mountain more than half a mile (1 km) wide. What they're digging for is more than $40bn worth of copper and gold. Every day the operation discharges 230,000 tons of tailings (waste rock) into the Aghawagon River. This process is expected to continue for up to six more years, at which point exploration will go underground until there's no value left. Freeport estimates that will occur by 2041."Source

"In 1995, the Australian Council for Overseas Aid reported that the Indonesian army and security forces killed 37 people involved in protests over the mine in the preceding seven-month period. While the level of violence is difficult to establish, academics at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney maintain that up to 100,000 West Papuans may have been killed since Indonesian occupation. They call what's happening to West Papua slow-motion genocide. Source

Riverine waste disposal is banned in every developed country on Earth. The World Bank no longer funds projects that dispose of waste this way, mainly due to ecological devastation, and the International Finance Corporation requires that the waste should be treated prior to disposal.

Grasberg definitely employs these tactics. Since 1990, a number of environmental assessments show ludicrously large amounts of toxicity within a 140 mile radius of the mine.

"Grasberg's reserves are so vast that extracting them is expected to create 6 billion tons of industrial waste." Source

President Suharto, who is mostly known as one of the most corrupt and leaders in Indonesia's history, "renewed Freeport-Indonesia's exclusive mining rights in 1991 for a further 30 years with an option of two 10-year extensions. The license included an option to prospect another 6.5 million acres (2.6 million hectares), as far as the Papua New Guinea border." Source

The Violence & Disgust

"Then in August 2002, two US teachers and an Indonesian employee of Freeport-Indonesia were murdered at the Grasberg mine complex. Following one rebel's admission that he was a business partner of the Indonesian military, several New York City pension (superannuation) funds formally requested that Freeport disclose the nature of its Indonesian "security" payments. The shareholders were concerned that such payments violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." Source

This is absolutely appalling, they are paying for people to be killed! This is corruption if I've ever seen it!

"The company's 2008 Sustainable Development report confirms that Freeport-Indonesia makes contributions to "security institutions(including both police and military)". Alarmingly Amnesty International has reported that as recently as 2008 there have been fundamental human rights violations such as the "torture, excessive use of force and unlawful killings by police and security forces" - reports that have subsequently been confirmed by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders and the United Nations Committee against Torture." Source

Is this enough evidence to show you that there is an enormous scandal over West Papua's mining rights, this one goes straight to the top of the food chain. Please express your opinion in the comments.

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Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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Chron out!

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