Newmont helps finance seminar

Newmont helps finance seminar

A two-day international seminar on Buyat Bay hosted by the
Manado-based University of Ratulangi (Unsrat) on May 9 and May 10
was sponsored by about 40 companies, including three subsidiaries
of the U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corporation.

The three subsidiaries were PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, PT
Newmont Nusa Tenggara and Newmont Horas Nauli.

Asked why Unsrat accepted sponsorship from Newmont, which is
at the center of the Buyat Bay controversy, Unsrat Rector Dr.
Lucky Sondakh said sponsorship was open to anyone as long as
there were "no strings attached".

"The sponsorship was not in the form of money but financial
support for the travel, food and lodging expenses for
participants and honorariums for speakers at the seminar,"
Sondakh told The Jakarta Post in Manado, North Sulawesi, on
Sunday.

"Our principle is 'friendship yes, collusion no,'" he said.

Student activists in Manado protested the seminar, saying it
was held to promote the interests of Newmont.

Sondakh refused to divulge the cost of the seminar.

"Just calculate it yourself," he said, "as the sponsors only
paid in kind."

Participants paid US$100 to attend the seminar and the
organizer said 400 people had registered for the event.

The seminar, supported by findings from international bodies
including the World Health Organization and the National
Institute for Minamata Disease, concluded that Buyat Bay was not
polluted.

-- Harry Bhaskara & Jongker Rumteh