Rescuers finally find Busang geologist's body

Rescuers finally find Busang geologist's body

JAKARTA (JP): Rescuers have found the body of geologist
Michael de Guzman, who it is thought fell to his death from a
helicopter while flying to the Busang gold deposit he helped
discover in East Kalimantan, an official said Monday.

Sugijanto, the head of the airport at Temindung, East
Kalimantan, said De Guzman's body was found at about 12:30 p.m.
Sunday. Sugijanto coordinated the five-day search, conducted by a
200-strong team comprising members of the local police, military,
Bre-X employees, Temindung airport staff, and residents.

Sugijanto said he was only informed about the find yesterday
morning by team members combing land at the PT Sumalindo base
camp, some 200 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital
Samarinda.

"I immediately sent out a Search and Rescue helicopter from
Balikpapan with air evacuation equipment," he said.

The body of De Guzman, a Filipino national, was found face
down in a swamp, 150 meters to the west of the estimated location
in Manamang, a village north of Muarakaman, part of PT Surya
Hutani Jaya's timber estate, Sugijanto said.

He said the body of the Bre-X Minerals Ltd. mining company's
operations manager was now at the Wahab Sachrani Hospital in
Samarinda, awaiting autopsy.

The authorities speculated that De Guzman committed suicide
following the discovery of a note inside one of his bags.

De Guzman was on his way to the Busang property in
Muaraancalong district last Wednesday when he fell out of the
back sliding door of the Allouette 3 helicopter he allegedly
opened 17 minutes after leaving Samarinda airport. The
authorities reckon he jumped.

The helicopter had been hired from the air charter firm
Indonesia Air Transport by Bre-X, for whom De Guzman was also
chief geologist. Officials said the helicopter was in a good
condition.

Bre-X estimated the Busang deposit contained at least 70
million ounces of gold, currently worth around $25 billion,
making it the biggest such discovery of this century.

PT Freeport Indonesia spokesman Edward J. Pressman said
yesterday his company was still carrying out exploration at the
Busang II and III sites in East Kalimantan in order to determine
the real extent of the gold reserves there.

"Wait for another three or four weeks (for an explanation),"
Pressman said.

Bre-X has entered into an agreement with Indonesian partners
and the United States mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper and
Gold Inc. to develop Busang.

The death of De Guzman coincided with newspaper reports that
Busang contained less than the originally estimated gold
reserves.

The Neraca newspaper, quoting an unidentified source, reported
Friday that a review by New Orleans-based Freeport had shown that
the gold deposit in Busang was smaller than Bre-X's estimate.

Minister of Mines and Energy Ida Bagus Sudjana said Sunday his
ministry would look into the latest news reports about the Busang
deposit.

The Busang property was the subject of a bidding war until
last month as several mining companies wooed the government for
control of the property.

Following the controversial scramble for shares, the
government announced last month that Bre-X was given a 45 percent
stake, the Indonesian government 10 percent, Freeport 15 percent,
with 30 percent going to a private Indonesian consortium
controlled by businessman Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, a close
confidante of President Soeharto. (aan)