This trip was the fastest one in terms of climbing, but the longest one in terms of access. So much time, money, and energy was wasted on issues that didn’t directly contribute to climbing, and Freeport Mine was the root source of all these stresses. I had thought that this is just what happens when you travel in a developing country, but one day I read in a local newspaper that the Freeport Mine actually belongs to a US company, and there were many complains about this business from local people. So I did some research, and felt it interesting enough to share my findings with people who might care how this influential American company — ordinarily subjected to rigorous scrutiny and restrictions in its home country — could adapt to, and even thrive in, a foreign business environment riddled with corruption, and operate in a remote area effectively under military law.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (“FCX”), the world’s lowest-cost copper producer and one of the world’s largest producers of gold, is an international mining industry leader based in Arizona, USA. PT Freeport Indonesia is one of its principal operating subsidiaries, whose principal asset is the world-class Grasberg mine in the province of Papua in Indonesia, which contains the world’s largest single copper reserve and world’s largest single gold reserve.

1. Engineering Marvel
In a special investigative report, the New York Times noted that “Freeport has built what amounts to an entirely new society and economy, all of its own making. Where nary a road existed, Freeport, with the help of the San Francisco-based construction company Bechtel, built virtually every stitch of infrastructure over impossible terrain in engineering feats that it boasts are unparalleled on the planet.”

In developing its open-pit mining operation, Freeport has shaved off more than 120 meters of the 4,884 meter-high Puncuk Jaya Mountain, or what we called Carstensz Pyramid, by 1996. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Carstensz used to be16,503 ft, or 5,031 m.

The cost of building a mine on a mountain was 3 billion USD.

2. Security Coalition
In March 2003, Freeport disclosed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it paid the Indonesian Military $4.7 million in 2001 and $5.6 million for the employment of about 2300 “Indonesian government security personnel”. Between 1996 and 2004 at least $50 million was spent by Freeport, officially on providing vehicles, accommodation and food for Indonesian Military personnel. The NYT reported that company documents it had obtained revealed that some individual commanders received tens of thousands of dollars, in one case up to $150,000.

It is well known that in many areas where mining is being conducted, there is a very close relationship between the companies and the armed forces and police. The result is that when conflicts erupt between the mining corporations and local communities, the latter are at a great disadvantage. Same for Papua, in order to control “insurgents” and “local resistance”, Freeport justified the needs for directly-controlled security forces, which in turn intensified the tension. But, why would there be “insurgents” and “local resistance” against the mine operation? Let’s see what Freeport did to local communities.

3. Economic Contribution
The Freeport mine, the biggest in the world, boasts about $1 million per day in profits (in gold and copper ore). The company contributed $33 billion in direct and indirect benefits to the Indonesian government, approximately 2% of GDP, between 1992 and 2004. In some years, it has been the biggest source of revenue to the Indonesian government.

However, the West Papuan people have seen very little of this largesse. In particular, the indigenous people who lived in the mining concession area have suffered numerous injustices and humiliations. The several thousand Amungme and Kamoro people who lived in the area were relocated from their traditional lands into refugee settlements, as well as gravitating to the mining town of Timika, previously home to a small population.

“Now it is home to more than 100,000 in a Wild West atmosphere of too much alcohol, shootouts between the soldiers and police, AIDS and prostitution, protected by the military”, the New York Times reported. This has led to what some have called “cultural genocide”. Without access to their traditional land and with little prospect of employment, the local people are losing their social and cultural cohesiveness. Alcohol abuse and drug dependencies are more common.

Freeport was not required to compensate the local people for anything other than the dwellings they had lived in, and is allowed to exploit the natural resources of the area unhindered.

Only 13% of the 17,000 employees working at Freeport are people from West Papua.

4. “Eco Terrorism”
The vast Grasberg deposit ensures a long mine life, so it is most profitable for Freeport to process a huge amount of ore each day, wasting around 14% of the copper in the ore, which remains in tailings disposed of into the river. For the same reason, a large amount of copper-bearing rock has been excavated then dumped instead of processed, because the joint venture chose to pursue higher grade ore as quickly as possible.

The mine’s tailings, generated at a rate of 700,000 tons per day, are the subject of considerable environmental concern. The waste rock remains in the highlands, up to 900 feet deep and covering 3 square miles (8 km²), but its runoff and the finer material gets washed into the headwaters of the Ajikwa River and settles out all along the course of the river. This rate of heavy metal pollution is more than a million times worse than achievable with standard mining industry pollution prevention practices. The waste has also accumulated in the lowlands and has now buried 233 square kilometers of once-abundant wetlands as well as destroying at least 130 square kilometers of rain forest. The fish have nearly disappeared from the river. The mine’s management has warned local people not to drink water or eat plants growing near the river, but has not explained why.
It’s amazing how the company could operate such a vastly invasive mining operation in an area of such ecological and cultural significance, yet still pollute so irresponsibly with relative impunity. Unfortunately, the environmental law is not enforced by the Ministry of Environment due to the joint venture’s pervasive financial and political influence.

The environmental record of the Freeport mine is so bad that in 1995 the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which insures US companies against political risk, revoked Freeport’s insurance. No other company had ever been cut off before. The OPIC insurance policy was reinstated in April 1996, after Freeport threatened to file a protracted lawsuit against the federal agency, but then Freeport instead decided to cancel its insurance policies with both OPIC and the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) five months later. In so doing, Freeport avoided an imminent investigation by the World Bank agency into its mining operations.

5. “Cultural Genocide”
“Our environment has been ruined and our forests and rivers polluted by waste. The sago forests which serve as our primary food source have become dry, making it hard for us to find food. The animals we have hunted in the past have disappeared so we no longer know where to hunt…”

“Even the sacred mountains we think of as our mother have been arbitrarily torn up by them..” members of the indigenous Amungme tribe have literally watched their mountain disappear — mining has removed enough earth to lower the mountain by 400 feet within seven years.

For local people, the gold mine has been a nightmare – the dispossession of their lands, forced resettlement into malaria-ridden lowlands, pollution of rivers, and deprivation of the basic means of making a living. The environmental devastation wreaked by the mine and the lack of adequate compensation and benefits from the mine’s operations has fuelled support for the Free Papua Movement, which has waged a low-intensity guerrilla war for many years. It has also led to sporadic uprisings by local people, many which have been violently suppressed by the Indonesian military.

November 10, 2007 by Lei.

Friday morning, we moved from Zebra Wall (3600m) to base camp (4000m), an easy two hour hike. To my surprise, 4000m here doesn’t feel bad at all, though by any standard, gaining 4000m elevation within a day is a very rapid ascent. So today, we skipped acclimatization, and headed for the summit at 4:30am.

Carstensz is a big rocky mountain for which the summit can only be gained by “climbing” instead of “hiking” like many other big mountains. The climb is a mix of rock scrambling, and in some sections, up to 5.8 climbing. Since most vertical sections of the 800m climb already had fixed lines left by previous teams, we all moved un-roped, which made it very acrophobia-unfriendly when we moved along the sharp edge on the summit ridge.

Though 5.5-5.6 climb sounded trivial, it is quite strenuous when you have to climb 800m of that at 4800m elevation without much rest (there’s no belay break because of the fixed lines). So we used ascenders to aid through many sections to save strength. There were a few big gaps that I couldn’t jump over with my short legs, so I had to really make a 5.7 or 5.8 move to climb up, and those few moves would cost me 20 seconds of puff, puffing catching my breath.

The most interesting and strenuous part of the climb is Tyrolean Traverse. Before this trip, I didn’t even know this word not to say the skill. Basically, in order to cross the largest gap on summit ridge, you have to climb a horizontal line of about 20m by hanging under the rope and pull yourself through. 

Hanging yourself in the air at 4800m itself is scary enough, not to say the upside-down positioning make it hard to breath at an already hard-to-breath altitude.

We summited about 10am, a pretty good speed. Then it started snowing and raining when we started descending. 800m drop requires endless rappel. The rain, the long stretch, the sharp rock, the complex route structure, the varying direction, all make repel in this situation a very, very, serious business. A split seconds relaxation could result in an accident. This is the first time I fully appreciated every little tip I gathered while I was learning the business – the comfort of harness, the helmet, the prussic, the extension of repel setup, and of course, keep yourself disciplined when you repeat the process so many times at a time that you are already tired and you are eager to escape to the safe ground.

We flew into Timika yesterday afternoon, and the town looked pretty calm, no trace of the riots. Upon arrival, we got the confirmation that we were going to cross the mine in the evening. However, it became a “no go” after four hours of waiting. The explanation was “the car broke down”. But I suspect the real reason was to wait for another team (Alpine Ascents) to combine two trips in one to further increase the profit margin for the local cartel operator.

Again, the plan is to go in the evening. Why evening and waste a whole day in town? I began to suspect that the rumored story I read before would happen on this trip. Steven, the local guide, simply advised “stay away from the window”. I later confirmed that our approach is only “semi legal”.

Originally, after paying a hefty fee to gain permits from the Indonesia Tourist Office, the Indonesia Army, and the Indonesia Papua Police, we were assured a “fully legal” approach to cross the mine. Due to the recent riot in Timika, Freeport Mine revoked their consent for fear of being held responsible if the climbers got into trouble with aboriginals in the area. After negotiation, Papua police promised to take responsibility in escorting us while crossing the mine. Why would they want to take such a responsibility? Actually the hefty fee for “permits” is largely a cash transaction, so the real big money is only to be earned if we can cross. Based on the stories I read before, I wonedered if there were ever a “fully legal” approach to cross the mine.

Around 7pm, when it’s already completely dark, cars taking two teams of climbers including us arrived at the police station. We were immediately boarded on to an old bus that obviously was used to transfer mine workers. Then some armed police or army people joined us, and ordered each of us to sit at a certain position, basically, one person in each row of seats. Later I understood that it was to make it convenient for us to duck down. We were also ordered to put on a baseball cap and a jacket despite 90F hot and humid temperature, because that’s how the mine workers would dress to go to work. They also pulled several long metal boards to block the lower half of the side window.

For two hours, the bus roared through rain and dark country roads that climbed up towards the center of Freeport Mine. Every once in a while, maybe six or seven times, whenever we passed a check point, one police would yell at us to duck down. I wished I could sneak a few pictures, but seeing how freaked out some team members were, I didn’t want them to think I was trying to murder the team.

Two hours later, we changed into two vans that seemed to belong to the security office of Freeport Mine, and everyone put on a worker’s vest and helmet. For the next hour, we crossed the heart of Freeport Mine, passing by many giant trucks, whose tires were taller than our van; crossing through lands full of modern industrial frameworks and pipelines. I’m actually very impressed with how modern and how orderly the mine field was. Though we saw very few people moving around, all the working equipment looked well maintained, and all kinds of trucks moved around diligently with a seemly clear purpose. Near the top of the mine, there’s also a large residence area that looked like a fair sized modern town. Its modernly structured apartment buildings were a sharp contrast to the simple or shabby local residence I saw in Timika or Jakarta.

During a big portion of this last hour, we were driving with a dim head light in an endless narrow tunnel. The tunnel construction was quite rough that I couldn’t stop imagining what would happen if the tunnel collapsed. When we were at the exit of the tunnel or certain turning points, the driver would turn off the headlights, and drove to a hidden corner or spot, then came out again with headlights on to disguise the actual direction we came from.

It was already 10ish when we were dropped off at Zebra Wall, the end of the smuggling journey. However, the car behind us was no where to be seen. Were they caught? Were they lost? It turned out that their car broke down at a traffic light and had to wait for our car’s return to “rescue” them. A traffic light was a funny spot to have a “semi legal” car break down. They have to keep ducked down for a long time until no cars/people around, and then ran to hide behind a wall!