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