roxby downs mineThis year I had the privilege of being invited to speak on behalf of the BHP Shareholders for Social Responsibility at the BHP Billiton AGM, the world’s biggest mining company, in Brisbane.

And while it some of it approached sleep-inducing, my eyes were nonetheless open wide by the end of it.  Technologically the experience was stunning. It was a well orchestrated and slick combination of information overload, long and impressively worded speeches accompanied by many graphs and massive Brave New World style screens relaying the faces of the Chairman and CEO as they spoke.
A number of controversial and unjustified statements were made by Chairman Don Argus in his speech including absolving the company of moral wrongdoing in giving a shipment of Australian wheat as a deal softner to the Iraq regime during the sanctions period (of which the supreme court absolved them) and extended defense of nuclear power complete with unexplained graphs that seemed to back his claim that
nuclear power was both cheaper than renewable energy and more clean than coal. Hardly the area of
expertise of a mining executive. In addition both Argus and Chief Executive Officer Chip Goodyear
boasted of the great and extended opportunities for BHPB in China and India, which ACF spokesperson
David Noonan has said undermines the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Noonan says, “India is right

outside all those international regimes and it’s simply undermining our safeguards reputation and damaging that international treaty by trying to constrain nuclear weapons to push to get uranium export approval to China and to India.”

We were also treated to a couple to of short films extolling the many virtues and good works of the company that left even a cynic like myself feeling they were really helping people and improving the lives of the poor in developed countries rather than raping nations everywhere of their natural resources, undermining democratic process with cash donations, taking advantage of corrupt regimes and leaving many places with a legacy of environmental and social disarray that continues long after the mining is over and BHPB has moved on.

The grand finale of the three hour meeting was perhaps the rush on the tea and pastries that seemed be the highlight of the experience for many of the shareholders present.

BHP Shareholders for Social Responsibility was formed in 1994, over concerns regarding the environmental damage done in Papua New Guinea, by BHPB’s Ok Tedi copper mine, which they owned until 2002. The gold and copper mine discharges 90 million tons of contaminated tailings and waste rock into the river each year. In 1999, BHP admitted that the mine is an ecological disaster. The toxic cocktail of cyanide and acid has killed all life in the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers and made local people ill while depriving them of their land and livelihood. The dumping of waste rock from the mine into the river changed the ecology and water flows creating flooding and disruption to local transportation. BHPB has still not fully compensated the locals.

Since then many other environmental and social justice issues have emerged as a result of the operations of BHPB. BHPSSR have raised many important questions of the board of directors over the years including those related to BHP’s influence upon PNG legislation, the Gippsland-Sydney gas pipeline, environmental and native title issues, the lack of rehabilitation at deep open cut coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, whistle Blower cases; a continuing oil leak at Groote Eylandt, and unsafe practices on the Griffin Venture (a 100,000 tonne floating oil storage near North West Cape in Western Australia), Gammon Ranges National Park, South Australia, mining and exploration leases in Weetootla Gorge and many others. In essence BHPSSR exists to monitor the effects BHP operations have on people and their environment, workers safety and health and the amount of waste created by their operations: BHP have been accused of environmental vandalism, displacing indigenous people, and unfair union controls.

The pretense of a democratic affair was embodied in the voting of resolutions that included giving non-executive directors a pay rise of AUS$900,000 from a maximum AUS$3m to US$3m. I was surprised in how little interaction there was from shareholders, many of whom I heard discussing the flagrant sizes of the executive paypacket and scoffing at the Chairman’s claims regarding non-culpability in the AWB Iraq bribes affair.

In 2005 BHP Billiton purchased the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia from Western Mining Corporation. Along with the profitable benefits of owning Australia’s biggest deposit of uranium, they also will benefit
from the Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) Act 1982 which suspend the mine operations from

a number of significant laws. These laws include: The Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988, the Development Act 1993, the Environmental Protection Act 1993, the Freedom of Information Act 1991, the Mining Act 1971 and the Natural Resources Act 2004 (including the Water Resources Act 1997). The size and influence of the mining giant brings with it the arrogance that they can operate outside the law, putting at risk much more than shareholders money.

Near the end of the meeting shareholders were invited to ask questions which just a few of them did. Speaking for ‘BHP Shareholders for Social Responsibility’ I asked Mr Argus if the board would relinquish those legal exemptions to maintain his companies stated commitment to the “highest ethical standards”
and the “strictest environmental and health standards”.

Argus told shareholders that they would not make a commitment to relinquishing their extra-legal privileges granted to former owners. Mr Argus argued that they would continue to benefit from those legal exemptions, that it was “not uncommon” in the mining industry. Mr Argus says that the shareholders (and the rest of the community) would have to trust his word that they were doing the right thing.

He says, “we will apply to the highest standards…we are acting within the law.” I argued that “In refusing to have to abide by the laws that bind every other person, shareholders can only assume that they expect to breach those laws, otherwise they would have nothing to be afraid of.”

While they operate outside the law and with no accountability to environmental and social concerns,
the community has no assurance of culpability for accidents. These exemptions represent a racist and
environmentally irresponsible outcome for the community.

Their exemption from the Freedom of Information Act means that if they have an accident, a radioactive a
leak or destroy aboriginal artefacts, we may never know. It is within the realm of possibility that these things may happen. The Olympic Dam mine, in 1994, had a considerable leak of radioactive water from it’s

tailings dam that went undiscovered and unremediated for years. Things do go wrong. The community needs to know it can be protected. The Chairman’s word does not constitute a legally binding commitment to protect the natural and cultural environment from harm and for future generations. It behooves the world’s biggest mining corporation to set the example of good environmental and ethical practice and not simply pay it lip service.

Until they relinquish the Roxby Downs Indentures, their admissions of best practice, sustainability and integrity with regards to the Olympic Dam mine will remain a sham.

My colleagues from the Mineral Policy Institute also questioned them on human rights abuses in the Phillipines, Columbia and Indonesia and more about the issues surrounding BHPB’s performance on those issue can be found on the MPI website. Much credit should go to Techa Beaumont, who it is apparent by the BHPB Chairman’s reactions, is a regular spokesperson for human and environmental justice at their AGMs and beyond.

originally published in Groundswell, the newsletter of Friends of the Earth Brisbane

for more info see the Mineral Policy Institute