I have a bad habit of making broad sweeping statements. Most...

I have a bad habit of making broad sweeping statements. Most certainly some foreign companies turn a profit in West Papua and Indonesia. For anyone that wants to understand the last 30 odd years of history from the region I suggest they start by reading A Year of Living Dangerously.

Bribing local officials would be an excellent start. I suspect that's partly of the reason they're using local contractors in RSA instead of conducting the mining operations themselves. Perhaps established local businesses have existing relationships which allow them to carry on business with greater ease?

Up until recently, in the last 10 years that is, German businesses could claim the bribing of local officials as a deductible expense on their taxes. It's just part of doing business in some parts of the world, in fact not participating might be considered culturally insensitive.