Freeport/Rio Tinto operates the largest copper and gold mining enterprise in the world in the subdistrict of Timika. The company signed its contract to operate with the Indonesian government in 1967, two years before the discredited "Act of 'Free' Choice". Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has sat on its board of directors for decades until recently, his firm Kissinger Associates has long advised the company, and Kissinger remains a Director Emeritus and consultant to the company. Freeport/Rio Tinto have been regularly accused of complicity in human rights abuses and environmental destruction in the area in which they operate.

British Petroleum (BP) has begun to operate in the Bintuni Bay area of West Papua where it plans to extract and export gas. Human rights abuses in Wasior subdistrict have led to fears that the Indonesian military will continue to abuse West Papuans and increase its presence in the area.