RSL’s new partner Rio Tinto (public enemy or bad rap)
So in the past 24 hours a lot has been made on the net (blogs and discussion boards) about the partnership of Real Salt Lake and Rio Tinto and the naming rights to the new soccer stadium. I understand that a lot of people have looked for and dug up some things in Rio Tinto’s history that are questionable and other items that are simply disturbing to some. I have to admit this is all very similar to the way things are today, first assume no good and look for as much dirt as possible, we see this everyday in almost every aspect of the media, so why should the online community be different.
I thought I would take a look at Rio Tinto and see if they really are as evil as some would claim:
Some Background Info
Rio Tinto Wikipedia Page- remember Wikipedia is a user generate resource and not always 100% accurate
Rio Tinto Home Page- remember that corporate pages are generated by the company and not always 100% accurate
The Bad
Norway oil fund exits Riot Tinto on ethical grounds uk.reuters.com
Norway on Tuesday excluded iron ore miner Rio Tinto from its $375 billion (212.8 billion pounds) sovereign wealth fund due to environmental concerns over its activities in Indonesia, as part of its drive for ethical investment… Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said the problems with Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest iron ore miner, concerned a joint venture with Freeport McMoRan a group excluded by the fund in 2006, at their Grasberg mine in Indonesia.
Rio Tinto has a 40 percent stake in the mine, which is operated by Freeport McMoRan, a Rio Tinto spokesman said.
“We do not want to contribute to serious environmental damage,” Halvorsen told a news conference.
“The Grasberg mine discharges very large amounts of tailings directly into a natural river system; approximately 230,000 tonnes or more per day,” the finance ministry said in a statement, adding that it did not foresee any change. Rio Tinto’s spokesman Nick Cobban in London said: “Our immediate response is one of surprise and disappointment.”
The Truth about Rio Tinto wrm.org (world rainforest movement)
At a meeting held last February in Johannesburg, South Africa, a group of trade unionists from 14 countries announced the launch of an international campaign against the international mining company Rio Tinto. During the meeting Bob Hawke, former Australian Prime Minister, accused the company of “monumental hypocrisy”. Meanwhile, 51 Members of the House of Commons, in London, supported a motion that “condems the activities of Rio Tinto Corporation . . . probably the most uncaring and ruthless company in the world judged by its appalling record of human rights violations, community destruction, environmental damage and disregard for the lives of indigenous peoples.”
A report titled “Undermined”, prepared by OXFAM-Australia, documents the loss of land and income, forced evictions by the military, arbitrary arrests, pollution and social upheaval suffered by the Indonesian communities affected by PT KEM, in East Kalimantan, and PT Freeport in West Papua. Both companies are owned -90% and 11,8% respectively- by Rio Tinto.
As informed in WRM Bulletin nr. 10, a group of Dayaks recently toured Australia seeking support for their struggle for land rights and compensation for the social and environmental damage caused by Australian-based mining companies, among which Rio Tinto.
Source: WRM’s bulletin Nº 12, May 1998
Rio Tinto: The world’s worst company? greenleft.org
The dispute with coal miners at the Hunter Valley No 1 is the latest in its ongoing battle with unions and workers. In that dispute it presents itself as offering workers an extra for “productivity” improvements.
But its history of ties to the apartheid regime, its abuse of indigenous peoples, its attacks on workers and unions, its global environmental pillaging and its use of child labour tell a different story.
Roger Moody, in his book Plunder, describes Rio Tinto’s activities as ranging from “brow-beating opponents, leaning on governments and price-fixing, to violating international law, union-busting and management of one of the world’s biggest commodity cartels”.
It is the quintessential capitalist corporation, skilled at maximising profits irrespective of environmental and human rights concerns.
Rio Tinto evades questions on Bougainville at AGM mpi.org
Rio Tinto directors evaded questions over whether they would take responsibility for the legacy of environmental problems at the Panguna mine on Bougainville Island, and failed to make any clear commitments that they would engage the Indigenous traditional landowners before continuing discussions over resumption of the operations. While they said they had “no plans’ to reopen the mine, they did admit that discussion where taking place amongst some stakeholders.
The issue is highly charged, given the tens of thousands of lives lost when the environmental problems caused by riverine waste dumping and the exclusion of traditional landowners concerns shut down the mine and lead to a civil war. There remains significant sentiments on the island that the project should never be reopened, and legitimate concerns that failing to respond to community sensitivities could be a receipe for disaster.
Related Background Information
Bougainville Island- Panguna Copper Mine Conflict natural-resources.org
The following page is a collection of information, links and documents relating to the conflict between the people of Bougainville Island and the Papua New Guinea government arising from the activities of the Panguna Copper Mine project owned and operated by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL).
Grasberg Mine Wikipedia page
The Grasberg mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in the world. It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near and employs 19 500. It is majority owned through a subsidiary by Freeport-McMoRan, based in the United States (67.3%), along with its wholly owned subsidiary, PT Indocopper Investama Corporation (9.3%), and the government of Indonesia (9.3%), and additionally, a production sharing JV with Rio Tinto Group (13%). The cost of building a mine on the mountain was $3 billion United States dollars.
The Good?
Participation in the UN Global Compact
The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of: human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. By doing so, business, as a primary agent driving globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere.
Rio Tinto Participant Information
2006 Rio Tinto Review
Rio Tinto ranked 7th by Covalence Covalence ranks ethical reputation (Covalence’s EthicalQuote, a weekly updated information system measuring the ethical reputation of multinational companies. The universe includes 200 companies within 10 major sectors.)
Rio Tinto to give State’s last company town a $296 million makeover thewest.com
Pannawonica, the Pilbara iron ore settlement that faced extinction last year because of fears a new mine would threaten a rare breed of spider-like creatures, is set for a $296 million facelift after mining giant Rio Tinto vowed to reinvest some of its huge profits into upgrading WA’s last remaining company town.
The town’s 1000 residents will this morning be told of Rio’s proposed investment, which will include upgrading public facilities such as the police station, primary school, medical centre, nurses’ quarters, church, community hall and dining mess as well as refurbishing 238 homes, building 10 new ones and expanding the mining village
Participation in the Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international, multi-stakeholder effort to create a common framework for voluntary reporting of the economic, environmental and social impact of an organisation. The GRI seeks to elevate the comparability and credibility of sustainable development reporting practices worldwide. The most recent Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (the Guidelines) were released in 2002.
As a member of the International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM), Rio Tinto was involved in the work of the ICMM and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to develop a Mining and Metals Sector Supplement to the 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. ICMM member companies have committed themselves to move to reporting in accordance with the guidelines.
By identifying and targeting economic, environmental, and social performance issues and indicators specific to the mining, minerals and metals industry, the Supplement can help companies to address these issues in a common fashion, producing more relevant, meaningful, and comparable reports.
2005 Rio Tinto Global Reporting Initiative Checklist
2007 Rio Tinto Community Investment Giving
So what does it all mean?
It means that Rio Tinto like a lot of other huge multinational companies makes mistakes, and historically has made some big ones. They have partnered with some companies that have done bad things. It also shows that most recently they are trying to improve not only their reputation, but the way they do business. If you own any products with iron, copper, gold, silver, diamonds, or any other product that Rio or it’s subsidiaries produce it is a bit hypocritical to question their reputation or business practices, at least in my opinion it is.
I for one still believe that there are very few, if any companies in the world that can please all the people all the time. Rio Tinto has made a commitment to Utah with Kennecott and now has made another commitment in their partnership with Real Salt Lake. If anything this will put them more in the public eye and will continue to add pressure to make sure they are doing business in an ethical and just manner.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
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