Newmont Minahasa resumes its mining operations<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Gold mining firm Newmont Minahasa Raya in
\nMinahasa, North Sulawesi, resumed operations early on Friday
\nafter a blockade of the company's ore crusher by protesters
\nended.<\/p>\n
Company manager for government and community relations Tri
\nHarjono said on Friday the protesting locals and former
\nlandowners agreed to leave following a meeting with the
\nmanagement and local authority, during which they accepted the
\nfirm's proposal to hold a discussion to review their demands.<\/p>\n
\"The protesters left our site in the wee hours on Friday. They
\nagreed to sit down later for a one-on-one discussion to review
\ntheir demands on a case-by-case basis,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said the discussion was scheduled for Monday.<\/p>\n
He said the group, which numbered about 40 people, went to the
\ncompany's ore crusher on Wednesday and blockaded the site,
\ndemanding Newmont pay additional compensation for the land they
\nsold to the company in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
Tri said the company stood by its statement that it would not
\nmeet the protesters' demand for additional payment because it had
\nalready properly compensated all 400 former landowners from whom
\nit bought the land.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that we did everything right,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"However, if we really did so something wrong here, for
\ninstance an error in land measurements, we would be
\nresponsible,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The land dispute is the latest in a series of problems
\nexperienced by the company.<\/p>\n
Last year, the Minahasa regency filed a lawsuit against
\nNewmont, demanding the company pay Rp 62 billion (US$7.5 million)
\nin overdue taxes on building materials and insisting the local
\ndistrict court order the closure of the firm's operation.<\/p>\n
Newmont refused to pay the taxes, arguing that the taxes were
\nnot included in the contract of work it signed with the
\nIndonesian government in 1986.<\/p>\n
The tax dispute was resolved in April through an out-of-court
\nsettlement, in which Newmont agreed to pay the regency $500,000
\nin overdue taxes plus some \"compensations\".<\/p>\n
In June, Newmont was involved in a land dispute with locals
\nwho blockaded the company's mining site for a week, demanding
\nadditional compensation for their land.<\/p>\n
The week-long blockade cost the company about 2,000 metric
\ntons of lost gold production per day.<\/p>\n
Tri said the company was relieved the ore crusher blockade was
\nover and it could immediately recommence operations.<\/p>\n
The company also expressed appreciation for the local
\nauthority's help in negotiating with the protesters and
\npersuading the latter to end the blockade.<\/p>\n
Tri said the blockade, although only lasting for three days,
\ncaused Newmont losses because it had to stop operations for a
\nwhile.<\/p>\n
He said Newmont was expected to stop its gold production in
\nMesel in the next two or three years because the gold deposits in
\nthe area were depleted due to fast and extensive production
\nactivities in the early years of operation.<\/p>\n
The company is currently pondering the possibility of working
\non a new mining site in the nearby village of Limpoga, on which
\nit found possible gold deposits, he said.<\/p>\n
The company estimates both Mesel and Limpoga have a combined
\ngold deposit of about two million ounces.<\/p>\n
Newmont Minahasa Raya, which began its commercial operations
\nin mid-1996 after conducting exploration projects at the Minahasa
\nmining site from 1986 to 1988, is 80 percent owned by Denver-
\nbased Newmont Mining Corp. and 20 percent by Tanjung Sarapung, a
\nfirm owned by local businessman Yusuf Merukh.<\/p>\n
Newmont Mining Corp. also operates a mining site in Sumbawa,
\nWest Nusa Tenggara, as well as China, the Philippines, Kazakhstan
\nand Mexico. (cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/newmont-minahasa-resumes-its-mining-operations-1447893297",
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