(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[reputation] For the first time, a Norwegian company can be blacklisted by insurance giant KLP, Municipal Land Pension Fund. The company in question is Intex Resourses, which has just changed its name from Crew Minerals, and the cause is a controversial nickel project in the Philippines.
- We have not concluded in this question, but still follow the company closely, says Jeanett Bergan in KLP to Ny Tid.
In mid-February, Idar Vollvik bought 450.000 shares in the company, and is now sitting on shares for 32,8 million in Intex Resourses.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo harbors massive criticism from the local trade union movement, and is accused of ignoring workers' rights to attract foreign capital.
"Companies and authorities have a well-coordinated strategy for crushing trade unions," Daisy Arago of the Center for Trade Unions and Human Rights told Le Monde Diplomatique.
In October, the Norwegian ambassador to the Philippines, Torstein Ståle Risa, visited the island of Mindoro, where the Norwegian company plans to start nickel extraction. The aim of Risa's journey was to investigate how the local population is in favor of the Norwegian giant plans. Norwatch has gained access to the ambassador's final report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The majority of the people on the island of Mindoro are against mining (...) The majority primarily fear floods, washed-out lowland agricultural areas and fish deaths due to discharges," the ambassador writes, adding that the embassy has not decided whether nickel mining can be operated as planned in the area.
- Crew Minerals does not agree with the ambassador's subjective opinions and conclusions, and expects to receive the environmental approval as planned, writes CEO of Crew Minerals, Hans Christian Qvist, in a press release.
The news that the indigenous people of Mangyans and the local authorities on the Philippine island of Mindoro will go to the Supreme Court to stop the mining project, caused Crew Mineral's share price to plummet.
Idar Vollvik's company Vollvik Invest has not responded to Ny Tid's inquiries about this matter. ■
