A new book by former Wall Street mining analyst John C. Wilson examines a publicly acknowledged 1995–96 US State Department human rights investigation into Freeport-McMoRan's operations in West Papua, Indonesia, whose interim and final reports remain unreleased three decades later. Drawing on over ten years of Freedom of Information Act requests, declassified diplomatic cables, litigation records, and eyewitness testimony, Buried in Practice reconstructs the public record and questions why the findings are absent. The book documents US officials' engagement with allegations of killings and abuses near Freeport's Grasberg mine and places the case within a broader international context through thirty comparative case studies involving Indigenous rights and resource development. Wilson calls for stronger protections for Indigenous communities, including greater transparency around corporate payments to security forces and possible Magnitsky-style targeted sanctions. The book is available worldwide in paperback, hardcover, and ebook editions.
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold IncBook details unreleased US human rights investigation into Freeport's Grasberg mine, raising risk of sanctions or transparency demands.