MINING

U.S. Reaches Settlement With Mining Firm: Overseas Private Investment Corp., a U.S. government finance agency, and New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. settled a bitter dispute after the mining company agreed to establish a $100-million trust fund to finance environmental cleanup measures at its giant copper mine in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. In exchange, OPIC agreed to reinstate the company’s $100-million political risk insurance through the end of the year. The government had cut off the insurance last fall, citing environmental problems. Human rights activists had also raised concerns about alleged attacks by the Indonesian military on the local population, particularly critics of the Irian Jaya mine.