Government to seek financial compensation from Newmont

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Convinced that mining company PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) is guilty of polluting Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi, the government aims to seek financial compensation from the U.S.-based firm.

State Minister of the Environment Rahmat Nadi Witoelar said on Monday that his office had prepared a civil lawsuit against PT NMR and had written to the Attorney General's Office, asking that it serve as legal counsel in the case.

"The letter was sent to the Attorney General's Office prior to the tsunami in Aceh. In the letter, we ask the office to provide legal counsel," Rahmat told reporters after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace.

He was confident that the court would find PT NMR guilty of polluting the environment and order it to pay damages to the state.

Rahmat, however, declined to state the amount of financial compensation sought by the government. "It is confidential," he said, adding that the compensation, if granted, would be allocated to restore the environment in Buyat and relocate its residents from the affected areas.

The government will also press criminal charges against the mining company, he said. "All will generate a deterrent effect toward breaking environmental laws," he said.

In December last year, a government-sanctioned joint team said in its official report that PT NMR was guilty of contaminating Buyat Bay.

It said that the giant mining company failed to effectively monitor the detoxification process of its tailings before they were dumped into the bay, resulting in high levels of metal substances there.

The joint team's report states 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.

Earlier in December, a number of residents claiming to represent Buyat residents filed a US$543 million civil lawsuit against PT NMR for allegedly causing diseases.

However, some of the residents withdrew the suit, saying there was no evidence to suggest that tailings from the mining company were the cause of a variety of sicknesses that some villagers initially claimed was Minamata disease.

Police have declared six Newmont employees, including president director Richard Ness, suspects in the pollution case.

The first trial for the criminal case on pollution is expected to start later this month at the Manado District Court in North Sulawesi.

The trial will be presided over by judges well-versed in environmental laws.