(444.4396) Partizans - RTZ, the world's largest mining company, and CRA, its 49%-owned associate, are planning to merge their operations in 1996. The avowed intention is to combine both companies' capital (to the tune of around US $27 billion), boost their global dominance in the production of the world's most important minerals, and penetrate areas not yet exposed to mineral exploitation.
The merger will not only create the most powerful mining company in history, but also have grave consequences for thousands of Indigenous and other land-based peoples worldwide.
The operations or investments of British-based RTZ already threaten their rights, culture and livelihood in several regions. Those of CRA have been condemned on many occasions in recent years (see list).
What would a combined RTZ/CRA mean for such communities? It would consolidate the hold that both companies have on Indigenous territory (specifically in the Asia-Pacific region) and facilitate financing for similar projects elsewhere.
The proposed new Chief Executive Officer of RTZ/CRA, Leon Davis, announced in October that the company could buy into the huge Brazilian CVRD (long condemned for its seizure and exploitation of Indigenous territory in the Grande Carajas region). It would also expand operations in the tribal state of Orissa, India, build a large alumina plant in Australasia, and consider re-opening the Bougainville mine.
Conforming to this, RTZ chair Sir Derek Birkin claims the deal would "...further reinforce[s] our competitive advantage at a time when new prospects are opening up worldwide, notably in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent and the south east Asian region." (RTZ letter to shareholders, Oct. 9, 1995)
"There is nothing stopping CRA from going global," declared Leon Davis (Australian Financial Review, Oct. 18, 1995), adding pointedly: "It will just take an awfull long time if the shareholders don't like this deal."
Neither RTZ nor CRA has expressed any intention to recognise the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as laid down in ILO Convention 169, or the UN Draft Declarartion on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
It is our view that any further increase in the capacity of RTZ or CRA to encroach on, or exploit, Indigenous lands, should be vehemently opposed by all those who recognise such rights, or seek to uphold them. Therefore: we call upon shareholders in both companies to
- oppose the proposed RTZ/CRA merger
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demand that all RTZ and CRA operations which impact in any way on Indigenous Peoples should be halted, until these communities have been quaranteed the following:
- full legal rights to negotiate entry to their territory,and the terms on which mining and exploration can take place;
- full compensation for loss of land and water, and any degradation of air, soil, water and land cover quality;
- full access to all the companies' mining or exploration data, with an explicit veto right to halt operations considered by the community to be socially, spiritually or environmentally damaging.
Source and Contact: Partizans, 218 Liverpool Road, London N1 1LE,England, UK, Tel/Fax: +44-171-700-6189
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RTZ/CRA: operations that have affected Indigenous Peoples:
West Papua ("Irian Jaya") - the huge Ertzsberg/Grasberg copper/gold projects (RTZ 11.8% share) that have resulted in the forced "relocation" of Amungme, Komoro, Dani and other Papuan peoples. Atrocities by the Indonesian army, using mine company facilities, have been confirmed by two recent independent investigations. The US government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has condemned the West Papuan operations for inflicting considerable damage to the environment, specifically the rivers and the rainforest. RTZ is the key financier for expansion and exploration on 2.6 million hectares of Indigenous land. Wisconsin - USA - the Flambeau copper/gold mine, constructed on Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa Treaty land, in the face of vehement opposition. Nevada (Newe Segobia) USA - the Pipeline project, 40% owned by RTZ, which trespasses on Treaty land of the Western Shoshone, putting at risk their food and livestock raising, and access to land and water. Sapmi (Finland and Russia) - prospecting on Sami land, threatening its integrity, fragile Arctic ecology and the reindeer herding economy. RTZ has ignored the wishes of the Finnish Sami Parliament. Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea - managed by RTZ and promoted as the world's biggest new gold mine. Villages have been, or will be, wiped out and RTZ will dump thousands of tonnes of tailings into the ocean - a method strongly condemned by OPIC which refused to insure the project on environmental grounds. Conflict continues over land and equity issues. CRA is itself locked in a dispute with Aboriginal Australians over its plans to mine uranium at Karmalilyi (Rudall River, Western Australia), zinc and nickel on Waanyi land (Queensland), and over claims for compensation from the Wik-Munkan, for its vast bauxite operations at Cape York (Queensland). Its 40% participation in the Far South East Gold project in the Philippine Cordillera has been widely condemned by the Igorot community and national human rights ngo's; as have its gold and coal mines in East Kalimantan (Indonesia), which have profoundly affected Dayak communities living nearby. Many Bougainville islanders continue their struggle to stop the re-opening of the Panguna copper mine - six years after guerrilla action forced CRA to pull out. |