Norway excludes Freeport from investment list

Norway government on Tuesday said its more than US$240 billion oil fund would exclude the shares of Copper and gold giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold from its investment list for environmental reasons, agency reported.

The Finance Ministry based the exclusions on the recommendations of the fund's ethical council.

It blamed Freeport-McMoRan for using a natural river system for disposal of tailings from a huge copper mine in Papua.

The fund had sold its holdings in Freeport and Wal-Mart, the US retailer which was also excluded for human right violation reason by the end of May, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Freeport on Tuesday said that exclusion from Norwegian fund because of environmental damage was a result of misinformation, and that it has a strong commitment to environmental protection in its mining process.

Freeport operates giant copper and gold mining complex in the remote province of Papua. The company?s subsidiary PT. Freeport Indonesia, which operates the mine, is using river to remove tailings from its operations. (*)