A U.S. Court of Appeal has upheld an earlier ruling against an opponent of the giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, stating that the plaintiff, Thomas Beanal, failed to show that activities at the mine, operated by the 86%-owned subsidiary of
The suit dates back to April 1996 when Beanal, a tribal leader of the Amungme people of Irian Jaya, sought damages for alleged harm to the environment caused by the mine.
The latest ruling, by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, comes after a lower court dismissed three previous amended complaints.
The Court of Appeals also concluded that allegations of human rights violations and cultural genocide were “devoid of underlying facts.”
Nevertheless, human rights remain a concern for Freeport, which employs more than 14,000 people in Irian Jaya. Recently, it appointed Gabrielle Kirk McDonald to chair its special counsel on human rights.
A former district court judge and civil rights attorney, McDonald served for the past six years as a judge in the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
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