Police begin investigating Newmont mine pollution

Police begin investigating Newmont mine pollution

Jongker Rumteh and Trisna Wahyuni, Manado/Mataram

The National Police began on Thursday its investigation into the
alleged pollution committed by mining company PT Newmont Minahasa
Raya, believed to have led to the death of 30 Minahasa villagers
since 1996. PT Newmont Minahasa Raya is a subsidiary of U.S. gold
mining giant Newmont Mining Corporation.

The investigation, coming only two days after Minahasa
villagers reported the case to the National Police, focused on
questioning three victims of the alleged pollution: Rashid
Rahman, Masna Stirman and Jufria Ratubane.

During the investigation, police also questioned Dr. Jane
Pangemanan from non-governmental organization (NGO) of the Voice
of Women Foundation, who accompanied villagers to Jakarta in
filing their report.

Iskandar Sitorus, a lawyer representing the victims, said
afterward that the police mainly asked questions on the victims'
symptoms and illnesses. He said the victims would be taken on
Friday to the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Central
Jakarta, for further medical tests.

Newmont was earlier accused by the Indonesian Forum for the
Environment (Walhi) for dumping tailings containing hazardous
chemicals -- including arsenic and mercury -- into Buyat Bay,
where local residents regularly fish.

A Walhi report said 30 people, including an infant, had died
from Minamata disease, contracted from water and fish taken from
the bay.

The claims were quickly rejected by Newmont executives, with
president director Richard B. Ness saying that the processing
plant removed any mercury by-products before tailings were dumped
into the bay.

In a related development, North Sulawesi Governor AJ Sondakh
and House of Representatives legislators visited on the same day
Newmont's mining operation in South Minahasa regency, North
Sulawesi, following glaring national media reports on the alleged
pollution.

David Sompie Newmont external relations manager David Sompie
confirmed that government officials and legislators visited the
company and its Buyat Bay facility, and that they had spoken with
local residents and company officials.

After the visits, the government officials promised to set up
a team to investigate the case.

Meanwhile, the lives of Buyat Bay residents have been largely
unaffected by the media spotlight. On Wednesday, fishermen went
about their business as usual, fishing in the now infamous Buyat
Bay.

"I still fish and sell my catch at market. Indeed, some people
are afraid of eating the fish after the media reports, but there
are still a good number of people here who buy the fish I get
from the Bay," said Yanuar.

In a separate development in the West Nusa Tenggara capital of
Mataram, dozens of students and activists from the Network for
Mining Advocacy staged a protest in the city, demanding that
another subsidiary of the American mining company, PT Newmont
Nusa Tenggara, to be held responsible for the environmental
damage its operations had allegedly caused in the province.