Chasing Elephants – Lundin Mining Corporation & Conflict Minerals

If heavy allegations of corporate corruption, greed, and treachery are worth their weight in base metals, the Lundin Mining Corporation (LMC) may be in really deep shafts with Yoopers. The history of the Lundin mining and oil dynasty is allegedly concentrated in bribery, political pay-offs, war profiteering, human rights violations, and trace amounts of environmental damage.

“Wounded man near Rier, May 2002” – Photo courtesy of Sven Torfinn / Hollandse Hoogte

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Marquette County’s Eagle project is Lundin Mining Corporation’s most recent acquisition, and the company’s first official U.S. operation. However, mining and oil explorations conducted by The Lundin Group of Companies (LGC) have influenced ecological, economic, social, and political change in communities worldwide since the mid-1970s.

After digging back forty years into its risky business acquisitions, the controversial past of this highly enriched group of companies is now being extracted. Unless Marquette County’s nickel and copper mine can dig Lundin out from under its rocky roots, the North Coast of Michigan may be just a stone’s throw from mining mayhem.

The Lundin Group of Companies have acquired assets in Apartheid South Africa, secured stock in war-torn Sudan, and incorporated copper conglomerates with corrupt governments in the Congo. The numerous investigations that trail the group’s bullish pursuit of exploiting natural resources from every corner of the globe leave socioeconomic footprints across five continents. [1]

Middle East

Swedish entrepreneur Adolf H. Lundin laid the bedrock of his fortune by pursuing golden opportunities in fossil fuels in the Middle East. [2] The Lundin Group of Companies is guided by the founder’s “No Guts – No Glory” motto. [3] The mining and oil tycoon’s eldest son was just ten years old when his father first asked him to pursue a career in one of two sectors, petroleum or mining. Dinner discussions in the Lundin family were about stocks and rocks. [4]

Their father was an adventurist – a thrill-seeking enthusiast, and came home from the office as a fervent optimist. Lukas Lundin said he grew up naively oblivious to the cynical nature of his father’s rocky business negotiations, but he was just fifteen when he first earned his seat in an annual board meeting. A few years later, the family struck it rich in Qatar by tapping the vat on the world’s largest natural gas deposit. To receive the concession for the discovery, Adolf Lundin first had to pay a $1 million bribe to the Emir. [3]

Delays in getting an initial agreement prompted Adolf Lundin to make a bizarre gesture to Emir Hamad Al Thani in the form of a bet. “I told him I could predict the weather,” said Lundin, “and that it would rain the following day at exactly five o’clock.” Qatar is a desert country off the Arabian Peninsula, the average annual rainfall is less than three inches. [5] The Emir said it was impossible, so Lundin bet him a million dollars that it would. “I lost the bet, he got a million dollars, and I got my oil concession,” said Lundin. [3]

1. Lundin Group of Companies Website
2. Adolf Lundin Wikipedia
3. Adolf Lundin Interview – Casey Research
4. Lukas Lundin Interview – Casey Research
5. USA Today – Travel Tips Qatar

Lundin Mining Corporation’s code of conduct states, “Any participation, whether directly or indirectly in any bribes, kickbacks, indirect contributions or similar payments is expressly forbidden, whether or not they might further the business interests of the Corporation.” [6]

Adolf Lundin was known as someone who can beat the odds on political risk. The family’s first ethical gamble royally paid off when Lundin’s Gulfstream Resources drilled offshore on that concession. The well hit the North Dome field in 1976, co-discovering the largest known gas field in the world. [2]

New Mexico

Lukas and his younger brother Ian have been involved in oil and mining explorations since the formation of Gulfstream Resources. Traveling the world under the corporate dome their father lit in ‘76, Adolf Lundin’s uninhibited geographic pursuit of similar large scale projects could have pushed his son Lukas into the hotel business. During a pit-stop the following year in the United States, Lukas Lundin enrolled in the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. [4]

Adolf Lundin was looking for uranium in the Grants Mineral Belt in New Mexico. [4] At the time, the Grants Mining District in northwestern New Mexico was a major uranium producer regulated by the state. By 1979, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started issuing licenses, conducting inspections, and decommissioning activities of mines and mills. Lukas Lundin left New Mexico after the price of uranium fell in the early 1980s. Abandoned mines and mills in the Grants Mining District are now being cleaned up by the EPA. Mill tailings pose a potential hazard to public health and safety. Radium in these tailings does not decay for thousands of years. [7] The Lundins’ involvement in abandoning uranium operations is not known.

Lukas Lundin studied Petroleum Engineering at NMT. In business, he was taught to “chase elephants, to go big or go home,” a guiding philosophy for the Lundin’s resource exploration. He graduated in 1981, led an exploration team of clear cutters through the woods in Canada, and briefly searched for gold in Sierra Leone [4], West Africa’s infamous ‘Blood Diamond’ region.

Africa

In 1984, Adolf Lundin gave his two sons free reign to pick up every concession they could find in the Middle East and Africa. 25 years old, negotiating contracts with governments and ministries, Lukas Lundin was competing for bids against oil giants like Chevron. The Lundin brothers talked with their father daily, held meetings in opium dens in the middle of the night, and flew around in converted 707 cargo planes. After finding out what their competitors were bidding, they simply offered higher bids. The Lundin Group ended up with concessions in Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, and Dubai. [4]

During a UN boycott of Apartheid South Africa, Lundin’s pursuit of gold mining operations with the racist government fueled a storm of criticism from international press. Responding to the criticism in the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Adolf Lundin said, “I do not understand the Swedish rage against this beautiful country.” [8]

In his biography, he offered a more clarifying justification. “We work without regard to political risk. It is so difficult to make large oil and mining discoveries that, if you also limit yourself to countries which are politically secure you would not have a chance. It is like starting a marathon with a broken leg. The only thing that is important for us is that what we are looking for can be really big.” [+]

DR Congo

One of LMC’s biggest operations would come shortly thereafter in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the DR Congo is the world’s eighth-largest producer of copper and the biggest producer of cobalt. The Tenke Fungurume Mine (TFM) in the resource-rich Katanga province is the DR Congo’s largest mining project, producing 11,669 metric tons of cobalt last year. [9]

TFM
Tenke Fungurume Mine

Negotiations for TFM began after the Congolese government of Zaire launched an international bidding call to form a Joint Venture for the exploitation of the deposits near the villages of Tenke and Fungurume. The area had long been mined by artisanal miners since the late 19th century. [10] Artisanal miners are subsistence miners, independently panning for metals with hand tools. [11] A consortium of industrial companies had owned TFM along with Zaire’s state mining company Gécamines since 1972. Rising cost quickly tapped them out in ’76, and the consortium sold surface operations to a Belgium brick factory for $3 million in 1984. To the Lundins, it was considered a green-field investment, a new venture by a parent company in a foreign country with new operational facilities started from the ground up. The Lundin Group offered $250 million in cash as a transfer fee for the Tenke Fungurume Mine project. [10]

Signature from Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko was needed to finalize the deal. Mobutu had taken power of the country formerly known as the Congo in 1965 after a U.S. / Belgium coalition organized a coup d’état. In ’71 President Mobutu Africanized the country’s name, reformed the government, and became an infamous dictator. Adolf Lundin met with President Mobutu in his home in France in July of 1996 to finalize the agreement of TFM. Adolf Lundin admitted he offered a donation for Mobutu’s re-election campaign that was set for the following year. Adolf Lundin claims, however, that no money was paid in the end since Mobutu never reminded him about it. [+]

A rebellion broke out shortly after the offer was made and Lundin walked away from business negotiations with Zaire. He then started contract talks with the rebel leader, Umba Kyamitala. Three months later, on November 30, 1996, the final deal was signed. A Joint Venture was created with 55% ownership to Lundin, and 45% to the government mining company Gécamines. Gécamines ceded the deposit and agreed to a contract that several audits would later call a Joint Venture most unfavorable for Zaire.

In an interview in Cape Town, according to UN Inspector Jason K. Stearns, Lundin said they gave the rebels $50 million up front as a down payment. Published in Stearns’ non-fiction book ‘Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa’, an American journalist also referenced Lundin’s deal in the DR Congo. [+]

In a newspaper article in 1997 ‘Outside Mining Firms Find Zaire An Untapped Vein’, by foreign correspondent Andrew Maykuth of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Lundin said, “There are moments in the history of mining when you can make deals like this under excellent terms.” [+]

The Lundin Group denies having paid any sum of money to political parties, election campaigns or candidates while doing business in the DR Congo. Although many international mining companies prohibit any kind of donation to political parties, the Lundin Mining Corporation’s code of conduct says such donations require the approval of a Board, or a panel approved by the Board. [6] It states, “Direct or indirect use of Corporation funds, goods or services as contributions to political parties, campaigns or candidates for election to any level of government requires the approval of the Board of Directors or a committee authorized by the Board of Directors.”

Because the rebellion regime was desperate to fund a new civil war, the large down payment and transfer fee was an offer Kyamitala couldn’t refuse. After Adolf Lundin discovered surface operations belonged to the Belgium brick factory, years of court proceedings finally forced the government mining company Gécamines to re-purchase the land, and Lundin dodged compensating the major land owner entirely.

After the dust of civil war in the DR Congo settled, a UN Panel of Experts addressed accusations that concerned bribes and questionable tax reductions in the deal Lundin made during the war. A World Bank funded report uncovered financial transgressions, and International Mining Consultants Group (IMC) blacklisted the Lundin Group as one of many mining consortia that unfairly drafted avaricious contracts. Reporters for Swede Watch discovered large transfers to questionable bank accounts, evident of pay-offs to political leaders. An investigation published by The International Peace Information Service (IPIS) said Lundin left community promises unfulfilled, forcibly relocated villagers, and under-compensated land owners. Journalists who interviewed employees said Lundin underpaid miners. A community that was promised jobs broke out into a riot after those positions were handed out to outsiders. [10]

6. Lundin Mining Corporation Code of Conduct
7. EPA New Mexico Grants Mineral Belt
8. South Africa – ‘The Local’
9. US Geological Survey (Bloomberg)
10. IPIS ‘Risky Business’

The Lutundula Commission concluded in its final report in 2005 that Lundin was one of many companies that had negotiated unbalanced mining contracts, benefiting the companies involved more than the DR Congo. However, because they had negotiated the contract with Kyamitala’s rebellion regime, the established contract was valid and the United Nations decided no action was required. [12]

Since then, an American investor came in. Today, Lundin owns 24% of the Tenke Fungurume mine. [13]

Lukas Lundin said, “Fungurume is going to change the Congo.” In a May 2005 interview with Casey Research Explorers League he talks about Tenke Fungurume Mine’s operation. “It’s the largest unexploited copper deposit in the world. These big projects are very political, that’s why it takes a long time,” he said. “It’s priority number one for these countries to get these big projects going. The only way to help the economies of these countries is to get these projects started and generate money. No one believes in aid anymore because it just gets stolen.” [4]

GDP-Congo
Rising GDP of the DR Congo

TFM faces problems combating against artisanal miners, who claim they have rights to the land for their own survival. In 2010, hundreds of artisanal miners protested against TFM for preventing them from exploiting resources off a nearby hill. [14] The artisanal miners claim their survival depends on independent mining. TFM refers to them as looters illegally mining on TFM property. In August of 2010, 32 artisanal miners were arrested, charged with attacking and looting mine property. [15]

11, Artisanal Miners Wikipedia
12. Lutundula Commission
13. Lundin Mining Corporation Website
14. Artisanal Miners Protest
15. 32 Arrests Artisanal Miners

More recently, local villagers and an international NGO have accused a Lundin of interfering with a homicide investigation. [16]

A local villager broke into the TFM mining facility and was apprehended by TFM’s contracted security force Delta Protection. Under the orders of TFM employee M. Durand, William Tindwa was beaten severely. He later died at a nearby hospital. TFM paid $65,000 to his family in what an NGO called an admission of guilt. According to the mine, they paid the family for funeral expenses. Durand was relieved from his duties, and sent to Canada before an investigation could begin. The Center for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR), an NGO, said the payment to Tindwa’s family also included a waiver of any legal proceedings, preventing the deceased’s family from supporting their claims before a court, including kidnapping, arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, and intentional injury causing death. [17]

TFM claims they did not prevent the family from filing criminal charges. According to the mine, William Tindwa illegally entered the facilities on July 31st in an attempted robbery with apparent burglary. He died August 4th after surgery. Authorities made no request to TFM to question M. Durand and the mine allowed him to leave the DR Congo, claiming they had no authority to detain Mr. Durand. The mine said they cannot be held responsible for his departure to Canada. Company representatives met with Tindwa’s family to present their condolences and support. In addition to covering all expenses related to the health care of Mr. Tindwa, they gave assistance to the family at the funeral, and provided them food and transportation. Additional contributions were made to the family for support after the incident, but the mine insists the payment does not preclude the family from presenting criminal charges or evidence to the court. [18]

Tenke Fungurume Mine spends 0.3% of net revenues from sales of metal to fund community social funds, which are managed by community representatives and Tenke Fungurume income. According to the Lundin Group, these contributions amounted to $11.3 million since the start of production. [19]

Efforts to social commitments to improve the community health of people living in the Tenke Fungurume concession have been noted. TFM’s partnership with the local health organizations implemented a program to fight malaria in their workforce. The mine invested $1.5 million in the program. According to a press release from TFM, it has been effective, and has saved lives. Given the high mortality rate of malaria and the incidence of the disease in the community, this wasn’t an easy fix. TFM started spraying mosquito repellent and constructing nets in villagers’ homes. Of the population covered by the program, TFM and health officials say they have witnessed a 70% reduction of malaria.

Sudan

Despite recent efforts to control the mosquito population, accusations against the Lundins from humanitarian aid organizations have never gone away. In Sudan, aid organizations have accused the LGC of complicit involvement in the systematic destruction of humanitarian aid in Africa since 1999. According to an exhaustive report conducted by Christian Aid, the pursuit of foreign oil developments between 1999 and 2003 depopulated oil-rich areas through indiscriminate attacks on civilians.  A United Nations Special Rapporteurs (UNSR) confirmed eye witness reports of the abduction of women and children, gang rapes, and ground assaults. [20] Carried out by the government to develop Lundin’s infrastructure, these displacement tactics also included helicopter gunship fire, and the burning of villages.  A local village chief told Christian Aid that helicopter gunships attacked villages, destroyed farms, and displaced 11,000 people. New oil barracks were established in the process. [21]

16. Human Rights (Business)
17. Center for Justice Reconciliation
18. TFM Delta Protection Response
19. Lundin Mining Corporation TFM
20. United Nations Special Rapporteurs
UN-Gov-Attacks
Sudanese Government Forces

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report on Lundin’s compliant involvement in a 1999 rebel attack. HRW accused Lundin in failing to acknowledge the existence of violence in the region. According to the report, a rebel group executed three government officials on a Lundin oil rig in Sudan. The killings were known as summary executions, where victims accused of a crime are immediately sentenced to death without trial. The rebel attack on the Lundin concession culminated after villagers were forcibly relocated off a Lundin oil route. [22] Each government worker was shot directly in the head. Two died immediately and the other as a result of his wound. At the time, Lundin said they evacuated personnel and shut down operations on the rig because of logistical reasons. [23]

In January 2000, the Canadian Government Minister of Foreign Affairs sent an envoy to investigate the violence. Their reports confirmed Lundin’s oil presence in the region stating, “The underlying reality is that there has been, and probably still is, major displacement of civilian populations related to oil extraction. Furthermore, oil has become a major focus of the fighting.”

Christian Aid’s report ‘Scorched Earth’ accused a Lundin oil concession in a region known as ‘Block 5A’ of bringing death, destruction, and displacement to the area. A UNSR substantiated the claim in 2003, concluding that partnerships between foreign oil companies and the Sudanese government represent an ongoing danger to the peace process.

Oil companies create confidential contracts in deals with the government for rights to oil concessions in foreign countries.  Lundin denies that it violated the norms of international law or that it participated in any of the illegal acts. Carl Bildt was at the center of the controversy. Bildt joined the Board of Directors at Lundin Oil in 2000. The former Swedish Conservative Party Prime Minister was also a U.N. peacemaker, all while in charge of Lundin Oil operations in Sudan. After conducting brash investigations into the issues in Block 5A, he concluded that the oil’s presence was beneficial to the people. He refused to accept Christian Aid’s call for his resignation. Through a series of press conferences, Bildt was able to win over the people of Sweden. The Lundins continued operations. [8]

Carl-Bildt
Carl Bildt

Lundin Oil was subsequently sold to Talisman Energy in 2001. The following year, the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed a preliminary peace agreement. The move marked the start of an end to nearly 20 years of civil war. Sudan’s holdings were transferred to a new company, Lundin Petroleum, who sold its license in Block 5A for $142.5 million. Since the cease fire, oil pipe lines protected by the government have been associated with the genocide in Darfur. A comprehensive peace agreement was signed in January 2005. Following Lundin’s decision to back out of the Sudan operations, the company returned as a shareholder after a nearby well struck oil. South Sudan seceded as an independent country in 2011.

The Lundin Foundation

Following Adolf H. Lundin’s death from leukemia in 2006, things have changed for the company. Carl Bildt became the Swedish Foreign Minister and resigned from Lundin’s board of directors. Since then, the Lundin Group has invested considerable resources in re-imaging the group to make it more socially acceptable. [23]

On January 15th, 2006 the Lundin Group of Companies reportedly said that Ian and Lukas Lundin had recently become inspired to form the ‘Lundin for Africa Foundation’ during a motorcycle adventure from Egypt to Cape Town. [+] The foundation is said to be made up of high impact initiatives aimed at enabling sustainable livelihoods for Sub-Saharan Africa. The Lundin for Africa Foundation has been changed to the Lundin Foundation, and is currently supported by a number of publicly traded natural resource companies and brokerage firms. [24]

Numerous studies have analyzed the foundation’s philanthropic contributions with heavy criticism, suggesting these programs are for Lundin’s competitive advantage and only diffuse or deflect problems created from their own presence. Three separate studies regard the foundation as ineffective in aid, but effective as a business-oriented strategy. [25]

Since the global financial crisis in 2007 and 2008 many industrial and financial institutions have responded to community outrage by implementing lackluster efforts in community foundations. NGOs refer to it as ‘Green Washing’, a simple public relations strategy. Corporate altruism that focuses on giving-back exclusively to their immediate surroundings is a red flag ulterior motive. Studies on this marketing strategy have found it to be incredibly beneficial for the corporate public image, but of no real impact to the community. [+] 

The Lundins believe their legacy will be defined primarily by their economic impact.

“The wealth created as a result of the Lundin Group’s oil and mining projects has been useful to countless men, women and children, and will continue to give them a chance at a better life. Adolf Lundin solution to the world’s biggest problems such as poverty, war and disease was economic development. He was in fact convinced that these issues were closely linked, and that poverty is the ultimate cause of both diseases and wars.” – Lukas Lundin [+]

In November of 2008, before a final report on Lundin’s complicit involvement in various war crimes in Sudan was published, the European Coalition of Sudan Oil sent an advanced copy to the Lundin Group. The report was called ‘Unpaid Debt.’ In response, the LGC said they have at all times acted in accordance with all applicable local and international laws, and its operations have been and continue to be conducted in a manner which seeks to have a positive influence on the country and people of Sudan.

21. Christian Aid – Scorched Earth
22. Human Rights Watch
23. Unpaid Debt
24. Lundin Foundation LGC 2012
25. Lundin Foundation Strategy Study
26. Lukas / Ian Lundin Opinion Editorial

Lukas and Ian Lundin said they are long-term and responsible actors within the commodities sector, and called for a broader debate on how oil and mining firms can further contribute to economic growth, environmental responsibility, and human rights where they operate. They said, “In our opinion there is no doubt that the Lundin Group’s presence has been of benefit to the communities and the peoples in all regions where we have been and are still active.” [+]

Upon studying the claims made in ‘Unpaid Debt’, Swedish public prosecutor Magnus Elving opened a criminal investigation. Following the decision by the public prosecutor, Members of Parliament in Sweden requested Carl Bildt to step down as foreign minister. However, again, he refused.

Ogaden

More recently, Mr. Bildt was thought to be involved in another controversy in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region. Many believe the dangers are caused by a Christian-led government persecuting a nation of Muslims, but hostile tensions can often be linked to oil. Lundin first established itself in Ethiopia in the early ‘90s, and began operations as early as 2006. [+]

Ogaden-Ethopia
Photography by Jonathan Alpeyrie.- Muslim ONLF rebels are taking time off from fighting by praying to Allah.

Following allegations that Lundin had violated human rights in Ogaden, two Swedish journalists tracked the movements of the Lundin Group into Ogaden in 2011. The purpose was to report on Lundin’s meetings with the Ethiopian regime. Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson were following up on interviews with displaced villagers who sought refuge in Kenya. The two journalist illegally crossed over the border into Ogaden on July 1, 2011. Schibbye and Persson were detained, held captive at gunpoint for three days, tried for terrorism, and sentenced to a decade in prison after a hasty trial using manufactured evidence. [+]

To the chagrin of the Swedish public, the Lundin Group did not offer the two imprisoned journalists much sympathy. Carl Bildt, as Sweden foreign affairs minister and a United Nations diplomat, was heavily criticized for having an interest in silencing the journalists. When Bildt said, “It’s an area we have been advised against traveling to because it is a dangerous area,” many questioned his allegiances. Several members of Swedish parliament were already siding with Ethiopia’s charges of terrorism, and Bildt failed to keep the journalists out of prison. [8]

Johan_Persson_&_Martin_Schibbye
Johan Persson (L) Martin Schibbye (R)

For fourteen months, stripped of their shoelaces and physical freedom in an overcrowded damp cell, Schibbye and Persson were inmates at a filthy Ethiopian prison overridden with lice, fleas, and rats. Shibbye later speculated that their arrests may have been due to an informant that tipped off the Ethiopian authorities, noting an unusual IP address owned by the Lundin Group had visited Schibbye’s website a few weeks before the incident.

After pressure from the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International, along with an onslaught of negative media attention in Sweden, Bildt finally convinced the Ethiopian government to release the two journalists. Schibbye and Persson were pardoned on September 10, 2012. [+]

Carl Bildt was accused of playing a role in the improper imprisonment, and the backlash of criticism in the media evoked the Lundin brothers to respond to an article portraying the LGC as opportunistic, dictator-hugging businessmen.

Lukas and Ian Lundin rejected allegations of human rights abuses describing them as “unfounded, unfair and in some cases, absurd.” In an opinion editorial published in March 2012 in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the Lundins said that contrary to the perception in some quarters of the Swedish press, the Lundin Group has contributed to economic growth in the countries in which they have been active. [26]

According to the editorial, non-profit humanitarian organizations and certain journalists display a complete lack of understanding of Adolf Lundin and the values he stood for. The Lundin brothers said they welcomed the ongoing investigation by the Swedish prosecutor.

LGC 2014

In a blind, ambitious pursuit of large-scale projects, Lukas Lundin, 55, is heir of the Lundin mining empire. He is actively involved in continuing his father’s legacy of risky business. With hazel reflections of Swedish crowns in his eyes, Lukas Lundin reigns over a group of companies now worth one hundred billion of these nickel plated coins; a kick in the family mining gene pocketing $14 billion USD for shareholders. Of that, Lundin Mining Corporation’s market capitalization is valued at $2.6 billion, which makes up the majority of the LGC’s mining sector. [27]

Lukas Lundin is the Chairman of five LGC corporations, housing a total of 16 mining companies. There are two Uranium explorations, four South American copper/gold explorations, a Chilean Iodine mine, two African diamond mines, and six LMC-owned metal companies. Companies that produce copper, zinc, lead, and nickel are subsidiaries of LMC. They include a Finnish cobalt refinery, Marquette County’s Eagle project, and mines in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and the DR Congo.

The LGC is officially comprised of 12 mid-tier corporations and currently includes an additional 24 companies that explore or produce resources in three sectors: mining, oil / gas, and a new experimental effort into solar exploration. Subsidiaries of the Lundin Group probe, drill, and dig in quarries, fields, and caves everywhere to extract and sell virtually every commodity Mother Nature offers. They have joint ventures with 34 companies, including BP, Freeport McMoRan, Rio Tinto, and 15 other former affiliations. Some of those include start-ups that have come and gone just as quick as the eight year life span projected for Eagle Mine.

Lundin-Group-Breakout
Lundin Group of Companies Overview (click to download .pdf)

Administrators at Eagle Mine said they couldn’t comment on Lundin oil operations in Sudan, but recognized that the country has a lot of problems. During a discussion reviewing an opinion editorial about the Eagle project, Eagle Mine administrators said photography of artisanal miners in the DR Congo is not an accurate representation of the Tenke Fungurume mine, and illegal mining doesn’t relate to the Upper Peninsula. According to Eagle Mine, TFM is a state of the art facility.

Eagle Mine said their partnership with Lundin Mining Corporation has been positive, attributing the good fit to easy communication and quick feedback in the decision-making process.

All companies under the sphere of the Lundin Group of Companies have some of their own bylaws, and operate relatively independent of the corporate Board of Directors. Regarding community contributions or additional external affairs expenses, the Lundin Mining Corporation Board of Directors is active in all decisions.

The commodities sector has seen reforms in the past decade, and Michigan has some of the strictest regulations in the country. According to Eagle Mine, whether or not the mining companies like it, significant change has swept across the field, making mining safer and more environmentally friendly. The Eagle Mine has publicized it will have 14 years of benefit to the area. [+] Eagle Mine said they are committed to providing long term sustenance to the community where they operate.

Sources

1. Lundin Group of Companies Website
2. Adolf Lundin Wikipedia
3. Adolf Lundin Interview – Casey Research Explorers League
4. Lukas Lundin Interview – Casey Research Explorers League
5. USA Today – Travel Tips Qatar
6. Lundin Mining Corporation Code of Conduct
7. EPA New Mexico Grants Mineral Belt
8. Lundin Bildt ‘The Local’
9. US Geological Survey (Bloomberg)
10. IPIS ‘Risky Business’
11, Artisanal Miners Wikipedia
12. Lutundula Commission
13. Lundin Mining Corporation Website
14. Artisanal Miners Protest
15. 32 Arrests Artisanal Miners
16. Human Rights (Business)
17. Center for Justice Reconciliation 
18. TFM Delta Protection Response
19. Lundin Mining Corporation TFM
20. United Nations Special Rapporteurs
21. Christian Aid – Scorched Earth
22. Human Rights Watch
23. Unpaid Debt
24. Lundin Foundation LGC 2012
25. Lundin Foundation Strategy Study
26. Lukas / Ian Lundin Opinion Editorial
27. Lundin Group Overview

Downloads

Lutundula-Commission-Thumbnail Christian-Aid---Scorched-Earth-Icon TFM-Enviromental-Assessment-Icon Lundin-Group-Overview-Icon Lundin-Foundation-Strategy-Study-Icon Center-for-Justice-and-Reconciliation-(CJR)-Icon ESPAC-Arrogant,-Misleading,-Prejudiced-Icon TFM-Homocide-Response-Icon About-Martin-Schibbye-and-Johan-Persson-Icon Tenke-Fungurume-Mining-English-Icon Artisanal-Miners-Protest-Icon Tenke-Fungurume-Mining-SARL-Icon Delta-Protection-Icon Delta-Protection-(English)-Icon Lundin-Foundation-LGC-2012-Icon Tenke-Fungurume-March-7-2012-Thumbnail Delta-Protection-Homocide-Letter-Thumbnail BCB-Lundin-Group-Thumbnail Uranium-Mines-New-Mexico-Thumbnail UN-Special-Rapporteiur-of-the-Commission-on-Human-Rights-Thumbnail Eagle-Mine-Economic-Assessment-Thumbnail Ugly-Exploration---Ethopia-Thumbnail Risky-Business-Thumbnail Unpaid-Debt-Thumbnail

Over three dozen sources were referenced to corroborate the content in this article. Source documents are primarily in English, but also include translated material of publications originally in French and Swedish. Extensive verification of the referenced claims was conducted by the authors of the source material, and the author of this article. Every effort was given to provide unbiased balanced counterclaims to all allegations. A copy of the article was sent to Eagle Mine before publication.

All sources are thoroughly attributed throughout the article, and corresponding documents are available to download.

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