Newmont agrees to pay taxes to Minahasa regency<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Gold mining company PT Newmont Minahasa Raya
\nsaid on Friday it was ready to pay Rp 550 million (US$71,000) in
\noverdue taxes on building material to the Minahasa regency in
\nNorth Sulawesi, much less than the amount demanded by the
\nregency.<\/p>\n
\"We've simply miscalculated our tax payments and are willing
\nto pay the remaining sum,\" company spokesperson Yonaniko Salim
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The regency demanded the company pay Rp 19.357 billion in
\noverdue tax on the C-class mining products extracted by the
\ncompany at its gold mine in the Ratatotok area from July 1995 to
\nSeptember 1998.<\/p>\n
C-class mining products is a term used by the Indonesian
\nmining law to denote building materials (including gravel, stone,
\nsand) and industrial minerals (including kaolin, zeolith and
\nothers).<\/p>\n
The regency said the company was subject to the C-class taxes.<\/p>\n
The regency filed a lawsuit last year in the Tondano District
\nCourt, following Newmont's refusal to pay the amount.<\/p>\n
Newmont said the C-class taxes were not included in the
\nobligations set in the contract of work (COW) it had signed with
\nthe government in 1986.<\/p>\n
It further said that it had extracted the overburden to access
\nthe gold ore beneath, without making commercial use of the
\nremoved materials.<\/p>\n
A joint verification team comprising officials from Ministry
\nof Mines and Energy, the regency and the company was later formed
\nat the request of Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono to settle the dispute out of court.<\/p>\n
Most members of the team said Newmont had used 379,000 tons of
\nthe overburden to make aggregates for its construction needs.<\/p>\n
They said Newmont was only obliged to pay taxes on the used
\noverburden.<\/p>\n
\"Newmont is satisfied with the result of the team's research,\"
\nYonaniko added.<\/p>\n
However, the team's members representing the Minahasa regency
\nreportedly still insisted the company had to pay taxes on all the
\noverburden.<\/p>\n
The Tondano District Court has yet to complete the examination
\nof the dispute.<\/p>\n
The district court has thus far made several decisions in
\nfavor of the regency, including that it had issued a provisional
\nruling to temporarily suspend Newmont's operation while the
\nhearing process was afoot.<\/p>\n
The Provincial High Court has approved the suspension ruling
\nbut the District Court had yet to execute it. (bkm)<\/p>",
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