Rural America must be like low hanging fruit to many corporations. Bent on resource extraction, companies riding into areas with high unemployment rates promising jobs find red carpets beneath their feet and local newspapers providing them with glowing accolades.
Iluka Resources did just that in Brantley County Georgia. They promised jobs and prosperity and responsible mining practices and just like The World, local journalists helped seed the spin machine with upbeat and carefully crafted ‘news’ and editorials. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way for Brantley County.
Iluka Resources operating as TE Consolidated shut down after three years and the few locals working for the company were out of jobs. Iluka also left a mess after mining in the flat wetlands and local individuals and groups including the Satilla Riverkeeper had to bring suit against the company as well as the Army Corps of Engineers to enforce conditions of the mining permits.
Coos County union leaders saw a presentation of these details recently including pictures of the mining sites this week. Already upset that local labor is not being adequately tapped for the construction of the processing plant the unions were very concerned to hear the bad economic impact Iluka left behind it.
Like ORC, Iluka was owned by an Australian company and four of the senior ORC management worked for Iluka. ORC management have a checkered history but one thing is certain, they know how to manipulate commissioners and council members and most definitely, the local press.
They are players and Coos County is being ‘played’ and The World is helping them.
UPDATE: A couple of corrections were made above, namely that Iluka filed bankruptcy in Georgia. The company, operating as TE Consolidated did close operations after three years but I have not been able to confirm that TE Consolidated did, in fact, file bankruptcy.
As stated previously, there is a mountain of data relating to the non-compliance issues and subsequent litigation related to Brantley County and it will be posted here as time allows.
One last thing, ORC when negotiating with the County has offered a royalty of 3.5% for chromite, etc… and 5% for any gold. This appears to be a little lower than the private land they have procured leases for
according to an August 1, 2006 letter from Stoel Rives to the directors of Rubirosa Limited on connection with an $8,000,000 public offering.
It looks like leases already signed offer 5% and 10% respectively for chromite and any gold.
While it is nice to have foreign capital investments the problem is in order for a company to make money they have to obtain the resource, in this case chromite, cheap to make a profit. Once the resource is extracted there is nothing to build future industry and because the initial investment was ‘cheap’ no reason to try and stay anyway.
These are transient companies that do not hold a long view for the area only a short term gain perspective for their shareholders. There is no reason to expect better from ORC than Iluka especially since the same characters are running the show.
There’s a reason why this foreign owned company is here and not in Tijuana or California, they said no.
These scavengers know where to go. Wait till a county is desperate and then move in with those precious jobs, jobs, jobs they promise the poor folks. I’m wondering how many local new jobs Smith has hired? Anyone know?
Like the 2,500 jobs Nikky promised with her 12 inch pipeline, remember?
You’d think people would learn. I think the population suffers from domestic violence syndrome, always beliving this time it will be better, really, we’re not lying to get our foot in your door.