An American mining company is making billions stripping a West Papuan gold mine. West Papua was annexed by Indonesia and the rights of its gold mine was given to an American company. The West Papuans are some of poorest people in the world, while their gold mine is one of the largest in the world.
West Papua is home to one of the world’s largest gold mines (and third largest copper mine), known as the Grasberg Mine. Grasberg is majority-owned by the American mining firm Freeport McMoRan. It has reserves worth an estimated $100 billion, and the company is Indonesia’s biggest taxpayer.
Money and geopolitics usually beat out human rights. Since the Suharto dictatorship of Indonesia annexed West Papua in a 1969 U.N. referendum – largely viewed as a land grab – an estimated 500,000 West Papuans have been killed fighting to achieve independence.
Freeport McMoRan was given rights to Grasberg when the Indonesian government signed the right to extract mineral wealth from the site in 1967. In order to preserve this quite literal gold mine, the Indonesian military uses brute force against the local indigenous population. Benny Wenda, a native Papuan who has campaigned his whole life for independence, details the kinds of experiences the local population has endured at the hands of the Indonesian military:
The Last Vagabond
DARIUS SHAHTAHMASEBI - WEST PAPUA: THE GENOCIDE THAT IS BEING IGNORED BY THE WORLD
Great post Kaivey. And lest anyone think that this kind of behaviour is unique to US mining companies, it is clear that Canadian, Brazilian and Australian mining companies have really no better records. One can see some of the tales human rights abuses, targeted assassinations and so-on at https://miningwatch.ca/
ReplyDeleteYes, I mentioned that an American mining company was involved, but maybe I should have mentioned that Australia is heavily implicated.
DeleteIt looks like a good site.
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