Whereas:    Since 1967, PT Freeport Indonesia Company (PT-FI), an operating unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc. (FCX) has been operating on lands traditionally inhabited by indigenous people, especially the Amungme and Komoro;

Whereas:    PT-FI currently dumps over 110,000 tons of mining waste per day into local Irian Jaya rivers and is considering the expansion of milling operations to exceed 190,000 cubic tons per day.  According to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (1995), a U.S. government agency which provided political risk insurance to this operation, the mine "created and continues to pose unreasonable or major environmental, health, or safety hazards with respect to the rivers that are being impacted by the tailings, the surrounding terrestrial ecosystem and the local inhabitants";

Whereas:    PT-FI has attempted to ameliorate the social and environmental damages by proposing the "One Percent Trust Fund Offer" and the establishment of an Amungme Foundation.  But the Amungme Tribal Council (LEMASA), representing the indigenous people most affected by PT-FI operations in Irian Jaya, has issued a resolution "unconditionally and absolutely" rejecting these two proposals;

Whereas:    The $6 billion class action law suit brought against FCX and Freeport McMoRan Inc. by indigenous peoples affected by PT-FI's operations is likewise indicative of local animosity against PT-FI and presents a potential for considerable financial liability;

Whereas:    It is unclear how much environmental liability, cleanup responsibility, and remediation cost may exist because PT-FI's environmental audits have not been made public or have been only partially released;

Resolved:    That shareholders request the Board of Directors of PT-FI to institute a comprehensive review of its Indonesian operations and prepare a report to be made available to shareholders by September 1997, and to take steps to:

        1.    Postpone the expansion of million operations until a just, accepted, peaceful and permanent resolution of local indigenous concerns can be reached in consensus-based process with all stakeholders.

        2.    End company cooperation with the Indonesian military as soon as legally possible so that PT-FI does not provide food, transportation or shelter to Indonesian military personnel; and urge Indonesian military to drastically reduce military presence in and around PT-FI's Contract of Work area.

        3.    Publicly release in their full entirety the 1996 Labat Anderson social audit, the March 1996 Dames and Moore environmental audit, and all other environmental audits on the Indonesian operations from the last five years.

        4.    Allow independent environmental monitoring of PT-FI operations and local river and ecosystems by non-governmental organizations.

Submitted by

Seattle Mennonite Church
3120 N.E. 125th St.
Seattle, WA  98125

15 November 1996