Newmont goldmine closure plan<\/p>\n
With regard to the news article titled Newmont to close
\nMinahasa gold mine (March 9) its erroneous premise has caused
\nconsiderable confusion within Indonesia for little reason, and
\nmay have unfortunate effects outside the country as well.<\/p>\n
PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) will not be closing any sooner
\nthan the depletion of the Mesel Pit Ore Body, currently scheduled
\nfor 2003. The contract of work signed with the government for PT
\nNMR was set at a standard 30 years.<\/p>\n
But that doesn't mean that the ore body covered by the
\ncontract of work will last that long. Indeed, ore bodies have
\nfinite time periods of exploitation.<\/p>\n
Once the ore is gone, the mining is finished and reclamation
\nactivities commence. So the length of time required for mining
\nand the length of the contract with the government covering any
\nspecific mine are two entirely different things, and are more
\nfrequently different than not.<\/p>\n
The regency, provincial and central governments have known for
\nsome time now that PT NMR is nearing the end of its mining
\nactivities at the mine site.<\/p>\n
It is possible that the story started as a simple recitation
\nof facts and somehow grew into \"news\", or that someone in the
\nregional government may have misunderstood information provided
\nto them about the company's upcoming mine closure plan
\npresentation.<\/p>\n
Either way, The Jakarta Post unwittingly perpetuated a non-
\nstory that was then picked up by both the Bloomberg and Bridge
\nNews Services in the United States and run on their wires as a
\nbreaking development.<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, the news caused quite a stir with Wall
\nStreet analysts who cover the mining industry and because of the
\nreasons that the Post erroneously cited for the \"closure\", the
\nstory may further erode investor confidence in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
I understand how confusion may have been created by the
\ndifference between the Contract of Work and the actual life cycle
\nof the mine. What I don't really understand is why the Post
\napplied an angle in the text of the story that is clearly
\ncontravened by the company's spokesman as he was quoted.<\/p>\n
He said that the mine was closing because of the depletion of
\nthe resource and at no point did he say that the mine was closing
\n19 years earlier than originally planned.<\/p>\n
Your story led the readers to believe that we were closing for
\nreasons other than the depletion of the ore body and that is not
\nthe case.<\/p>\n
EDWARD PRESSMAN<\/p>\n
Director for Technical Affairs<\/p>\n
PT Newmont Pacific Nusantara<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>\n
Note: The news item was based on a report from the Antara news
\nagency.<\/p>\n
--Editor<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/newmont-goldmine-closure-plan-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }