Newmont starts producing gold in North Sulawesi

Newmont starts producing gold in North Sulawesi

JAKARTA (JP): PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, an Indonesian- Australian joint venture, will soon start producing 100,000 ounces of gold bullion per annum in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, the company announced in Manado yesterday.

"After conducting explorations since 1986, we'll start producing gold," John AS Dow, the president of the foreign mining company, said in Manado yesterday.

With an investment which may reach US$2.5 billion, including that for infrastructure, the company plans to process about 2,000 tons of gold ore per day which will produce some 14,000 grams (493.8 ounces) of gold. Processing the ore into 92 percent bullion takes three days, he said.

He noted that only PT Aneka Tambang's laboratory in Jakarta can process ore into 100 percent gold bullion.

"During the first year of operation, we will be able to produce some 100,000 ounces of gold. But in the second year, we will increase our output to 150,000 ounces," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

According to John Eltham, the company's general manager, the mining site in Minahasa contains some 2.1 million ounces in gold reserves that are estimated to be adequate to support 13 years of production. Other small reserves have also been discovered around the mining site. (13)