Government to seek financial compensation from Newmont

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.