The Iron Law of Toxic Extraction

The Iron Law can best be understood by looking at the world's largest known reserve of gold, the Grasberg Mine in Irian Jaya. Freeport McMoran, its owner, extracts gold, silver and 600,0000 tons of copper, using mining techniques which would be illegal in the U.S. (This caused Freeport to lose its Overseas Public Investment Corporation pollution insurance -- a first for the Agency.)
With copper at $7000 per ton, and gold at over $1000 per ounce, Grasberg looks profitable -- $4 billion a year profitable. So it could easily afford to control its pollution -- as it claims to. Right? Well, the Iron Law tells us, "not really."
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