Burdened by a legacy of environmental destruction and what was widely seen as an unhealthy relationship with president Suharto's New Order regime, Louisiana-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold has long been depicted as the poster child for all that is wrong with mining in Indonesia. But does the US mining giant still deserve that reputation, or are the company's many critics simply living in the past?... [Activists] have long overlooked other more dangerous pollution. Why, for example, do environmental activists and even the government continue to ignore the unfettered use of liquid mercury by thousands of illegal gold miners in North Sulawesi and Kalimantan? While they pass it off as quaint indigenous mining, it is in fact organized and run by influential regional power-holders... Freeport may be proving that with careful thought and constant experimentation the environment can rebound from the impact of mining. [also refers to Newmont, ExxonMobil]