Dear all,
Some of the stories in the latest edition of Mining Monitor are
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RIO TINTO'S DEAL WITH NGO TO WRITE INDONESIAN LAWS
The success of the world's biggest mining company, Rio Tinto, in
establishing a "partnership" with an Australian human rights group,
Australian Legal Resources International, is likely to result in Rio staff
helping draft human rights, environmental and corporate legislation in
Indonesia.
The project, developed with the support of Rio Tinto and the Australian
Embassy in Jakarta, aims to provide assistance for "legislative drafting
and comprehensive legal and judicial reform". Part of the project will
involve legislative drafting of "environmental law, human rights law,
constitutional law, bankruptcy and corporate law".
Concerns about the close relationship between ALRI and Rio have been
further fuelled by a six month secondment of ALRI's former Executive
Director, John Hall, to the PR section of Rio Tinto working on partnerships
with NGO groups.
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WWF SIGNS $1.2M PARTNERSHIP WITH RIO TINTO
The announcement of a $1.2 million 'partnership' over four years between
Rio Tinto and the Word Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has sparked controvery
over sponsorship deals between mining companies and non-government
organisations.
Rio, as a leading member of the Minerals Council of Australia, continues to
campaign for mining in National Parks, against the Kyoto greenhouse
protocols and against stronger environmental legislation. While WWF argues
the main aim in corporate partnerships is to change corporate practice,
Butcher concedes there is little prospect of persuading Rio not to
participate in campaigns against WWF priorities.
Why develop partnerships with companies if there is no prospect of
achieving the conservation goals of most importance to WWF? "There are more
ways of getting those positions in place than just working with mining
companies", he told MM. "There's a whole suite of other forums involved
from governments at one end to individuals at the other", he said.
The General Secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy
Union, (CFMEU), John Maitland, sees the Rio partnership as a cynical move
by Rio Tinto to restore its poor public standing. Maitland dismisses the
$1.2 million budget of the Rio Tinto-WWF Frogs! project as a pittance.
"This is equivalent to about 1-2 days revenue from one major coal mine in
Australia. It is less than the cost of a single large truck, of which the
company has many hundreds", Maitland wrote.
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NEWCREST LOANS HELICOPTER TO INDONESIAN MILITARY
Australian gold company, Newcrest Mining, has defended its decision to loan
a helicopter under contract to a Indonesian subsidiary to the notorious
Indonesian armed forces (TNI). While nationalist groups in Indonesia have
accused Newcrest of loaning a helicopter to the TNI which was then used to
ferry troops and ammunition.
It is an accusation that Newcrest reject but its Investor Relations
Manager, Peter Bird, told MM that he had "no idea" exactly who in the
military requisitioned the helicopter. Asked who in Newcrest could say,
Bird told MM that "the answer is that it is a security matter ... Our
response would be it's their (TNI's) business. They can do what they want to".
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The full versions of the above stories from Mining Monitor are available at
the Mineral Policy Institute website at www.mpi.org.au
Follow the button to Mining Monitor and download the Adobe Acrobat version
of Mining Monitor.
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Mining Monitor (MM) is the quarterly magazine of the Sydney based
non-government organisation the Mineral Policy Institute.
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*******************************************************
Bob Burton,
PO Box 157
O'Connor ACT 2602
Australia
Ph/Fax 02 6247 4072
Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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