Not many know that a Norwegian Pension Fund blacklisted Rio Tinto some time ago. On September 9, 2008, amid the turmoil of the global financial crisis, the Norwegian government announced that it had liquidated its entire $1bn investment in Rio Tinto for "grossly unethical conduct
The Grasberg mine in West Papua on New Guinea, which the fund believed posed the "unacceptable risk" of contributing to "severe environmental damage" if it were to continue funding the Anglo-Australian mining giant.This blacklisitng of one of Australia's blue-chip stocks received only syndicated coverage in the local media.
Some history of Rio Tinto in the black
An ancient copper mine located near Huelva in southernmost Spain changed hands in 1873 and a group of opportunistic Anglo-German investors acquired it from the Spanish government for mining. The mine's copper had polluted the surrounding water to such an extent that the indigenes named the river Rio Tinto - literally meaning "red river".
The mine at Rio Tinto had supplied the Greeks, the Roman Empire and many others. Its copper had paid for Carthage's numerous wars on Rome.We can only assume that these investors, aware of such indelible marks on the environment and history, missed the irony, because they named their company Rio Tinto.
There are still protests by environmentalists in West Papua, one of the poorest provinces of Indonesia
