Jared Diamond On Traditional Society, Warfare And Eschewing Technology

 To date, the company has paid no mining royalties or compensation to the more than 4,000 Amungme indigenous people displaced by the growing mine’s concession area since strip mining began there in 1972. Many of the displaced people have been forcibly moved to the lowlands. Both Amungme and Comoro tribes have been severely affected by the environmental devastation caused by the mine, such as “copper pollution, destruction of vegetation and estuary habitat, toxic runoff and contamination of the river food chain.” And Amungme tribespeople, moreover, are open to the malaria-carrying mosquitoes of the area’s lowlands. The human rights violations and environmental devastation surrounding the Grasberg mine prompted the Norwegian government in Sept. 2008 to completely divest its $1 billion investment in Rio Tinto.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelvenables/2013/02/12/jared-diamond-and-updated-commentary/