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"We are
conscious that some people hold deep and strong beliefs that our activities
are in themselves damaging."
RTZ
chair Sir Anthony Tuke, 1984 Annual Report
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Photo
Courtesy ICEM
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Rio Tinto is the world's
largest private mining corporation. The company focuses on large, long-term,
low cost mining operations in aluminium, copper, coal, uranium, gold,
industrial minerals (such as borates, titanium dioxide feedstock, talc,
diamonds) and iron ore. Rio Tinto is most active in North America, Australia,
South Africa and Indonesia with additional major assets in South America,
Asia, and Europe. There are more than 60 operations in around 40 countries.
Labour
and Human Rights
Rio Tinto workers produce tremendous income for the company - 35,000
workers produced income in 1999 of US$9,310 million - US $266,000 per
worker.1
In recent years the company
has perfected the art of increasing production while shrinking the workforce
and cutting wages. Rio Tinto, along with many other multinational corporations,
holds the view that the 'free market' means trade unfettered by regulations,
be they environmental, labour or human rights regulations.
"Mining,
by its very nature, constitutes an assault on the physical, social
and cultural environment. When this assault is organised by one of
the most powerful, arrogant and racist corporations in the international
mining industry, the results can be devastating."
Al
Gedicks, from the foreword to 'Plunder' by Roger Moody and PARTiZANS
Within Australia it is a
leading member of the Business Council of Australia and of the Minerals
Council of Australia.
In 1997 alone, workers in
Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Norway and Portugal took industrial action
over Rio Tinto's "de-unionisation" policy. Over the years
the company and its many subsidiaries has also faced protests from indigenous
peoples in Brazil, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Indonesia
and Australia.
Uranium
Mining
Following a hostile takeover of North Limited, ownership
of the Ranger and Jabiluka
uranium deposits passed to Rio Tinto, putting their future in doubt.
Amid rumours that the barely profitable uranium holdings (which were
not the primary target of the takeover bid), would be sold off, Rio
Tinto unexpectedly replaced half the ERA board with it's own people,
which suggests a longer term strategy for development is being pursued.
Rio Tinto must now become the focal point of the campaign to get uranium
mining out of Kakadu.
 Rio
Tinto also holds the Kintyre uranium lease
in Rudall River National Park in Western Australia, on 'Care and Maintenance'
owing to the uncertain political and economic circumstances in the industry.
The company is pressuring the Martu people of the region into negotiations
on a mine which most of them do not want. The Martu have been strong
to date in stating that until their Native Title status is made clear
under State and Federal law, they will not finalise any negotiations
with Rio Tinto.
In the late 1970's Rio Tinto
attracted international condemnation for its active role it supporting
apartheid in Southern Africa. Rio Tinto was found to be illegally mining
Namibian uranium at Rossing, in breach of United Nations Resolutions.
"Mined
by virtual slave labour under brutal conditions, transported in secrecy
to foreign countries, processed in unpublicized locations, marked
with false labels and shipping orders, owned by a tangle of multinational
corporations whose activities are only partially disclosed and used
in part to build the nuclear power of an outlaw nation....
The commodity
is uranium. It comes from Namibia. It is mined, shipped, processed
and sold in direct violation of United Nations resolutions, of a Decree
enacted by the United Nations Council for Namibia, the legal administering
authority of the Territory, and of an advisory opinion of the International
Court of Justice."
2
Rio Tinto survives and prospers
because it is a corporation with financial and political influence.
Through its trade in uranium it has gained powerful allies in the key
western nuclear weapons states -
France, the UK and the US.
Environment
and Indigenous Rights
At the Freeport/Rio Tinto copper and gold mine in Grasberg, West Papua
(Irian Jaya), the military have harassed, tortured and killed villagers.
The company estimated that 40 million tons of toxic tailings were dumped
in the Otomona-Ajkaw river system in 1996 alone. So far the operation
has blasted 400 meters off the top of Grasberg mountain, a place considered
sacred to the indigenous Amungme people. The local people have seen
few benefits from the mine- only 4% of those employed at the mine come
from the local area.3
Labour
Rights
In Australia, where Rio Tinto has massive iron ore, coal, aluminium,
diamond, salt and gold operations, Rio Tinto appears to be attempting
to eliminate unions from its workplaces. Within a period of six years,
Rio Tinto has reduced the workforce in their coal operations by 28%
and cut real wages by 20%, causing tremendous harm to surrounding local
communities.4
At the Escondida mine in
Chile, the majority of workers are afraid to become involved in the
union and have therefore requested help and support from the Rio Tinto
Global Union Network. In the United States, the majority of Rio Tinto's
work sites are non-union due to aggressive tactics by the company to
keep unions out.
Capper Pass is a major tin
smelter in the United Kingdom that was closed down by Rio Tinto in 1991.
After first denying any wrong doing, Rio Tinto has finally admitted
that it has persistently violated health & safety and environmental
laws at the smelter. Rio Tinto is now facing major legal liability from
ex-workers, their families and their communities for cancer risk exposure
and other major health and environmental problems.4
"The
arrogance of corporate power entails a certain blindness to the changing
political climate for the mining industry. This was evident in RTZ's
admission that they were "astonished" at the opposition
to the Cerro Colorado copper project in Panama. As the structures
and modes of corporate power become better known, there will be more
opportunities to astonish and bewilder this vulnerable corporate giant."
Al
Gedicks, from the foreword to 'Plunder' by Roger Moody and PARTiZANS
References
1.
CFMEU Rio Tinto Global Campaign Fact Sheet http://www.cfmeu.asn.au/mining-energy/fact2000.htm
2.
'Plunder of Namibian Uranium'. United Nations, New York, 1982 Quoted
in CFMEU Briefing Paper No. 6 http://www.cfmeu.asn.au/mining-energy/rtback6.htm
3.
Corporate Watch: Rio Tinto's Global Exploitation http://www.igc.org/trac/japan/intl/internatl/riotinto.html
4.
CFMEU Rio Tinto Global Campaign Fact Sheet http://www.cfmeu.asn.au/mining-energy/fact2000.htm
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Contacts
Rio
Tinto PLC - United Kingdom
6 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4LD
Ph 0171 930 2399 - Fax 0171 930 3249
http://www.riotinto.com/
Rio Tinto Ltd
- Australia
55 Collins St Melbourne, VIC 3001
Ph (03) 9283 3333 - Fax (03) 9283 3707
Rio Tinto Exploration
P/L
37 Belmont Avenue, Belmont
Ph (08) 9270 9222 - Fax (08) 9270 9223
Rio Tinto Limited
152 St Georges Terrace, Perth
Ph (08) 9327 2327
Websites
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