The big bad Australian: BHP's worldwide record
By Jon Land
BHP, Australia's biggest company, achieved international notoriety on May 4, 1994, when landowners surrounding the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea launched a $4 billion lawsuit — the largest claim ever to be made in an Australian court. The landowners were seeking compensation for the damage caused by the 90,000 tonnes of toxic waste dumped into the Ok Tedi and Fly river systems from the mine every day since at least 1987.
On June 8, 1996, BHP sought an out of court settlement with the representatives of the 30,000 plaintiffs, agreeing to rehabilitate the Ok Tedi River, dispose of tailings more effectively and provide a multimillion-dollar compensation package to the landowners.
The Ok Tedi River is now biologically dead. All species of fish (other than some catfish), turtles, crocodiles and crustacea have been destroyed. Some 100 square kilometres of riverine rainforests have been killed, and a further 300 square kilometres remain at risk.
A new report on BHP, released by the Mineral Policy Institute (MPI) on October 28, points out that BHP's record at Ok Tedi is far from an isolated case.
The MPI report "reveals a litany of mistakes made by BHP internationally in the areas of environmental protection, relationships with indigenous peoples, worker health and safety-related issues", according to MPI director Chris Harris.
MPI's BHP Company Profile documents the global expansion of BHP following the purchase of Utah International in 1984, when BHP diversified beyond its traditional base of steel and coal.
The company now has assets in excess of $30 billion and employs 60,000 people in 59 countries. It is the largest private producer of copper, a major steel manufacturer and one of the world's largest coal producers.
It is also involved in diamond, gold and nickel production. BHP has significant oil and gas interests in Bass Strait, the Timor Sea (including the Timor Gap), the North Sea and elsewhere.
The MPI report cites a number of significant incidents associated with the international expansion of BHP:
- BHP has obtained consent to develop a $1.1 billion diamond mine at Lac de Gras in the North-West Territories of Canada. The 350,000 hectare exploration program includes plans to drain five lakes, transforming one, Misery Lake, into a huge open pit mine.
In January 1996, BHP was charged with two violations of the Fisheries Act for dumping toxic materials into Misery Lake. Environmentalists and representatives of the local indigenous people, the Dene Nation, have raised serious concerns about the impact of the mine and the failure to resolve land title issues.
- International and Dominican environment groups have strongly opposed plans by BHP to mine in protected forest areas of the Caribbean island of Dominica. The application by BHP covers one tenth of Dominica, in a mountainous, geologically unstable area that includes four live volcanoes and rainforest considered the best in the Caribbean.
BHP (which has a gross revenue 300 times the size of Dominica's economy) advised the Dominican government on the Mines and Minerals Act, 1996, which makes environmental assessment discretionary and overrides provisions guaranteeing protection of forest reserves and national parks. BHP has withdrawn the proposal for the time being.
- BHP appears to have little concern about being involved in countries which have poor human rights, labour and environmental codes, such as Indonesia, China, Burma, Chile, Argentina and Peru. The company continued to hold significant gold and other interests in South Africa while international trade sanctions were in place against the apartheid regime.
- In December 1995, the grounding of BHP's manganese ore carrier Iron Baron off the coast of Tasmania resulted in Australia's worst ever oil spill. Approximately 420 tonnes of oil was dispersed into the sea, affecting nearby penguin colonies and reefs. Poor planning and training by BHP Transport Group was deemed the cause of the disaster.
The activities of BHP within Australia have raised ongoing concerns in relation to the environment, workers' rights and the treatment of Aboriginal people. BHP's safety record in mining is particularly poor — 36 workers have died at the Moura and adjacent Kianga coal mines in Queensland since 1975.
In 1988, the South Australian government stated that the BHP steelworks at Whyalla were the largest source of chemically contaminated effluent in the state's waters. Six workers at the Whyalla plant are suing BHP for $6 million after an accident in which they received major burns to their bodies and lungs in March 1995.
In February 1994, BHP agreed to an out-of-court settlement after a 14-year campaign by women in Wollongong against discriminatory practices carried out by one of its subsidiaries, Australian Iron And Steel. An internal report by BHP this year noted that the company lacked diversity in management and had a culture of promoting Anglo-Australian men.
The people of Newcastle, after years of pollution and toxic emissions, injuries and deaths of workers, were outraged when the company announced on April 30 that it was going to close Newcastle steelworks, resulting in the loss of 2500 jobs.
More recently, property owners living near the Cataract River south of Sydney began legal action against BHP on September 23 because of "noxious, toxic, harmful and offensive" gases bubbling out of the river, which they allege are caused by the coal mine operated by BHP nearby. The gases are killing vegetation and are highly flammable.
A major fire broke out on BHP Petroleum's Griffin Venture floating oil and gas rig operating off Western Australia on November 9, resulting in the emergency evacuation of staff. Last year Griffin Venture and Jabiru Venture (in the Timor Sea) were subject of an inquiry into safety management commissioned by the federal government, which found that BHP's safety audit procedures had "in the past not been adequate".
Further reports on mining companies and mining-related issues are being prepared by MPI, a non-profit environmental organisation based in Sydney. Chris Harris told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that BHP had made only a few responses to coverage of the MPI report in newspapers.
"What was interesting was that the day after the BHP report was released and it was announced that the next two reports were going to be on Western Mining and Rio Tinto, Western Mining ordered 20 copies and Rio Tinto ordered six."
Harris said there were a number of reasons why BHP was chosen for the first report.
"When we first started doing it, Ok Tedi was a hot issue. As Australia's biggest company, it was a prime target. A third reason, from my perspective, was that BHP has always tried to portray itself through a glossy PR campaign over the 1980s as the Big Australian which was nice and clean. From my own experience of working on the Coronation Hill campaign [against a NT gold mine in an area intended as national park], there is this false conception in the community, and we wanted to do something about it."
While the image of BHP was tarnished by Ok Tedi, Harris believes that there remains a perception that this is an isolated incident."I don't think the message has got through.
"There is a general problem in the industry as a whole, and BHP is no exception. Most large mines and problems from large mines are very much out of sight, and therefore people generally don't relate that to specific companies, with the exception possibly of Rio Tinto. This was one of the main reasons behind the setting up of MPI."
MPI is building networks in the Asia-Pacific with NGOs, activists and indigenous people campaigning against the activities of mining companies.
One of the main projects is an international mining database. "We are doing this cooperatively with two other groups: Project Underground in California and the Environmental Mining Council of British Columbia. This will be used to create a specialised web site, linked to others, so that we can systematically track movements of companies on a global scale."
In February MPI, along with the Legal Rights Centre of the Philippines, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Community Aid Abroad and the Multinationals Resource Centre of the US, will convene the Asia-Pacific Mining Skill-Share in Sydney. The gathering will involve 50 representatives from NGOs working on mining issues and from communities around the Asia-Pacific affected by mining.
[Copies of the BHP Company Profile can be obtained for $20 from the Mineral Policy Institute, PO Box 21, Bondi Junction NSW 2022. Ph: (02)9387 5540, E-mail: mpi@mpi.hydra.org.au, web site: www.hydra.org.au/mpi/]