Newmont's statement too premature, says minister

YOGYAKARTA (JP): State Minister for the Environment Sonny Keraf regretted on Wednesday the U.S.-based mining giant Newmont's denial that it had polluted the Indian Ocean, saying that such a statement was too early to be made.

"We (the Environmental Impact Control Body/Bapedal) are still assessing the impact of the mining's tailings," said Sonny, responding to Newmont's spokesman Edward Pressman's statement as quoted by Dow Jones newswire.

Quoted by the newswire, Pressman said that the operation's disposal system had been categorically proven to be harmless and was permitted in the U.S. and Canada. He referred to its Batu Hijau copper and gold mining operations in the island of Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara.

"Newmont just wants to maintain a good image. I think the issuing of the statement was a business maneuver," said the minister.

"There have been complaints by several groups about its tailing system. Let's wait until the assessment is completed," he added.

One of Bapedal's deputy chiefs Masnellyarti Hilman, who is handling the Newmont case, concurred Sonny's statement, confirming that her office had yet to finish the assessment.

She said that her office had been conducting assessment on some environmental parameters, including biological impact, sludge composition, and water quality.

Indonesian environmental groups have blamed Newmont's Batu Hijau project for polluting the sea by disposing "poisonous tailing" directly into the sea.

The Batu Hijau project which started in 1999, uncovered 11.8 million ounces of gold and 10.5 billion pounds of copper.

Reports said that Newmont expected to produce 600 million pounds of copper and 400,000 ounces of gold from the Batu Hijau mine this year.

Last year it yielded 495 million pounds of copper and 280,000 ounces of gold.

Speaking of law enforcement for environmental issues in Indonesia, Sonny said on Tuesday that Indonesia's legal apparatus was too weak to deal with environmental cases.

"This has been our increasing concern. We could not do much for environmental cases without sufficient support from the law enforcers," said Sonny.

The most recent complicated environmental case is the reopening of pulp producer PT Inti Indorayon Utama in North Sumatra.

"It's not the ministry alone which must be held responsible for the environment. The people and the stakeholders must also be held accountable for the problems," he told reporters after signing a joint agreement on environmental research between the ministry and Yogyakarta-based Janabadra University on Tuesday.

"The acclaimed successful development in the past was in fact nothing compared to the resultant environmental damage we are aware of today," he said. (23)