Final government report maintains Newmont to blame on Buyat

Final government report maintains Newmont to blame on Buyat

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A government-sanctioned joint team announced its official report
on alleged Buyat Bay pollution here on Wednesday, maintaining its
stance that PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) is guilty of
contaminating the bay in North Sulawesi.

The U.S.-based mining company failed to effectively monitor
the detoxification process of its tailings before they were
disposed of into the bay, resulting in high levels of metal
substances there, it said.

The condition, the team added, was exacerbated after PT NMR in
South Minahasa regency discarded the tailings at a level higher
than the thermocline.

A thermocline is a region in the ocean that separates warmer
oxygen-rich water from cold oxygen-poor deep water. It acts as a
natural barrier that prevents tailings from resurfacing.

"Based on PT NMR's environmental planning and management
documents for the 2000-2004 period, we found that the
detoxification process was not thorough, nor complete.

"Such an incomplete process left behind metal substances, such
as arsenic, mercury and cyanide, in the ocean," said Masnellyarti
Hilman, who chairs the joint team.

She acknowledged that the team did not find a protective
thermocline at 82 meters under sea level, as claimed by the
company in its environmental impact analysis (AMDAL), which was
issued before it commenced operations in 1996.

The analysis was issued by a commission established by the
Ministry of Energy, which was then led by former minister I.B.
Sudjana.

Masnellyarti said that it was almost impossible to find a
thermocline at such a depth, and that NMR had failed to determine
where the region was located in different seasons.

"Oceanographic experts have said that in tropical countries
like Indonesia, the thermocline is usually located between 200
meters and 300 meters under sea level. In addition to that, the
NMR should have examined where the region is located during the
wet and dry seasons.

"Even in the United States, which has four seasons, miners
must carry out such an examination at least three times," she
explained.

The joint team's report shows that levels of arsenic and
mercury in the bay's seabed were 666 mg/kg and over 1.51 mg/kg
respectively, far exceeding the maximum standards set in the 2004
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marine water
quality criteria of 300 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg of sediment.

Similar substances were found in well water consumed by Buyat
residents, Masnellyarti said.

But further investigation was required to determine whether
the contamination was linked to the discarded tailings from
Newmont, she added.

State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar has said
the government-formed team's findings would be used to back up
police evidence in the Buyat Bay pollution case against Newmont.

The police had detained six NMR executives as suspects in the
case but later placed them under city arrest. Their case files
are being examined by prosecutors.

The six suspects could be charged under the Environmental
Management Law, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in
jail and a fine of Rp 750 million (US$84,269).

The Buyat case surfaced after dozens of local people filed a
complaint with the National Police in Jakarta against NMR in
August, saying the alleged contamination had adversely affected
their health.

NMR has consistently refuted the charges, saying that levels
of metal substances in water and fish in the bay were still below
international standards.