Rio Brief 2 - Sth Africa conf.

Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union

Briefing Paper No. 2 - for South Africa Conference February 1998

RIO TINTO - THE INTERNATIONAL WEB

Rio Tinto is the world's largest private mining company, operating over sixty mines and plants in more than forty countries. Its main operations are in: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Indonesia, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, the UK, the US and Zimbabwe.

Rio Tinto produces and/or refines a wide array of minerals, including aluminium/bauxite, coal, copper, diamonds, gold, iron ore, tin and uranium. The company is “dual-listed” in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Rio Tinto, either through direct ownership, subsidiaries and joint ventures, has the worst “corporate citizen” record of any private company. The company has been, and continues to be, severely criticised by trade unions, human rights groups, aid agencies, community and environmental organisations over its neglect of worker and human rights and environmental protection at many of its operations around the world.

The company has been associated with military dictatorships (in Spain and Chile), the apartheid regime in South Africa and more recently with repression by military and state police in Indonesia. In the past twelve months workers in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Norway and Portugal have taken industrial action over Rio Tinto's `de-unionisation” policy. Over the years the company has also faced protests from indigenous peoples in Brazil, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Indonesia and Australia.

Concern over environmental control at Rio Tinto operations has led to protests in many countries including, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Spain, England, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Indonesia and Australia.

Recent examples of challenges to Rio Tinto are:

INDONESIA: Indigenous Dayak people from the island of Kalimantan (Borneo) have claimed that Rio Tinto's Kelian gold mine operation has resulted in loss of land and income, forced evictions by the military, arrests, pollution and social upheavel. Evidence of the damage has been independently documented by Community Aid Abroad (Oxfam, Australia)

NAMIBIA: Edward Connelly is suing Rio Tinto over the cancer he claims he contracted due to unsafe working conditions at Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia. Connelly successfully appealed to the House of Lords to have the claim heard in the UK. The case may set an important precedent in making parent companies liable for damages which occur through subsidiary company operations.

For further details contact Peter Colley on (+61) (0) 417 992 995. See also the CFMEU web-site (http:www.cfmeu.asn.au/mining-energy).