The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that earlier this year, Freeport-McMoRan chief executive officer Richard Adkerson dismissed the idea of selling a majority stake in the company's flagship Indonesian copper-and-gold mine to local investors. A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe says that now he plans to do just that. The Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry tweeted its glee, "Freeport obedient, Indonesia is sovereign." Freeport's loosening grip on its Indonesian crown jewel illustrates a larger challenge facing the global mining industry: In a surge of economic nationalism, local governments and unions are pushing back against Western dominance of the world's natural resources. "We're seeing the rise of more nationalistic governments everywhere," said Paul Mitchell at Ernst & Young's mining practice. In Zambia, Glencore PLC threatened to fire 4,700 workers after the government raised power prices -- and then turned off the switch -- before agreeing to pay. In Tanzania, gold miner Acacia Mining PLC, majority owned by the world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold, is facing a tax bill on its gold mines equal to four times the country's GDP.