NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The chief executive of U.S. mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold accused The New York Times on Tuesday of "disturbing and provocative misstatements" for criticizing the company's financial support of the military in Indonesia, where it operates a huge mine.
Richard Adkerson also acknowledged that as a result of the newspaper report, the company has received informal inquiries from U.S. government agencies about its relationship with Indonesian military authorities and that Freeport was cooperating. The company did not identify the agencies involved.
During a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss fourth-quarter earnings, Adkerson said The New York Times declined to publish a letter he wrote responding to a Dec. 27 article charging that Freeport paid-off local military and police officers and spied on environmental activists.
He also disputed a New York Times article that said Freeport caused "breathtaking" environmental damage around its Grasberg mine in Indonesia's Papua province.
"The New York Times similarly mischaracterized the support we provide for Indonesian security forces and ignored the practicalities of conducting business in a remote area."
The company, Adkerson said, has been open about its policy of supporting local military and police to assist with infrastructure and logistics, and has publicly revealed that in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
He said company policy adheres to U.S. and British government principles on human rights and security in an area where armed groups are active.
There was no immediate response from a New York Times spokeswoman on Adkerson's comments.
His complaint is the second in a year by a leading U.S. executive targeting The New York Times for stories critical of a mining company's activities in Indonesia.
At last year's Reuters Mining Summit, Pierre Lassonde, president of Newmont Mining , the world's largest gold producer, charged that the Indonesian government bowed to pressure groups and arrested six company officials because allegations that Newmont had polluted the environment appeared in The New York Times.
Both Newmont and Freeport-McMoRan have denied causing environmental damage though mining operations in Indonesia.
In the Dec. 27 report, the newspaper said an investigation it conducted "revealed a level of contacts and financial support to the military not fully disclosed by Freeport despite years of requests by shareholders concerned about potential violations of American law and the company's relations with a military whose human rights record is so blighted that the United States severed ties for a dozen years until November."
Adkerson told analysts that the December New York Times article and a follow-up editorial on Jan. 9 "contained disturbing and provocative misstatements." He said he responded with a two-page letter, which he said the newspaper declined to publish because it was too long.
"I wrote a shorter letter on Jan. 12, which has yet to be published," he said, adding that the original, unpublished letter has been posted on the company's Web site, www.fcx.com.
"Far from causing 'breathtaking environmental damage,' the area affected by our mine tailings (waste) can be readily revegetated," the letter said, adding that the downstream estuary was a "functioning, bio-diverse ecosystem" containing abundant fish and shrimp.
The letter said Freeport pays more than $1 billion to the Jakarta government in taxes, royalties and dividends, and has also given more than $200 million since 1996 to a community development fund in Papua.
