PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara responds

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara responds

Kumoro Utoyo's April 4, 1996 letter comments on the recent announcement by Newmont Gold and Sumitomo to jointly develop the Batu Hijau copper-gold deposit in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara. He speculates how this development might affect the local people's lives.

Our company has just completed an engineering feasibility study at Batu Hijau and we are in the final stages of documenting a comprehensive environmental impact study. An important part of this work has been a study of the social environment in the immediate area of the proposed mining project so that we might better understand local needs and aspirations. Since late 1994 we have worked closely with the bupati (regent) of West Sumbawa and the Nusa Tenggara Barat provincial government to ensure that any new mine development is well understood locally and is integrated with other provincial development plans.

At present the Batu Hijau project employs around 330 people, most of them local. Once construction starts the project workforce will swell to 5,000 and we will continue our policy of hiring and training local Sumbawan people first. In 1992 we began a training and development program for field staff to transfer modern exploration technology skills. We have already taken the first steps to expand that program to train local people for future mining and processing operations.

Greenfields mining projects such Batu Hijau can be important catalysts for regional economic development, particularly in eastern Indonesia. Both Newmont and Sumitomo are keenly aware of their responsibilities to local people and to the government in developing this massive project. In taking a pro-active approach to community development and staff training from the very beginning we hope the people of Sumbawa and West Nusa Tenggara will be as proud of Batu Hijau as we are, and that Kumoro Utoyo's fears will prove unfounded.

J.A.S. DOW

President Director

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara

Jakarta