Newmont Denies Prosecutor's Pollution Charges
Date: 10-Jan-07
Country: INDONESIA
The Indonesian unit of Newmont, which once operated in North Sulawesi province and its president, Richard Ness, face charges over allegations the miner dumped toxic substances into Buyat Bay near its now defunct gold mine, making villagers sick.
Luhut Pangaribuan, Newmont's lawyer, said based on research by the head of a local health centre, a dermatologist from Kandou Hospital in Manado and an expert from the Medicine School of Sam Ratulangi University, villagers of Buyat Pante only suffered from common diseases.
"Other skin diseases such as swelling and itchiness were just common diseases found in any coastal area. They were not caused by Newmont's mine in Ratatotok," Pangaribuan told the court, adding the company did not use mercury and cyanide in its mining activity.
"Since it was not legally proven, we ask the judges to exonerate the defendant from all legal charges," he said.
Tuesday's session was the first in the case in 2007.
The committee of judges adjourned the session and the trial will resume on Wednesday.
In November, the prosecutor asked for a three-year jail term for Ness for failing to stop the gold miner Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) from polluting the environment.
The prosecutor also demanded the company be fined 1 billion rupiah (US$110,800) and Ness pay 500 million rupiah or serve an additional six months in prison.
Under Indonesian law, a prosecution sentencing demand serves as a strong recommendation for the court. But judges have the right to ignore the advice when considering their verdict.
The maximum sentence for Ness allowed by law would be 10 years.
The pollution trial against Newmont began in August 2005. The company had denied any wrongdoing and said the government had approved its water disposal process.
Tests results on the bay's water and Newmont's tailings by various institutionS had come up with different readings.
A team led by Indonesia's Environment Ministry said in 2004 that arsenic and mercury content in tailings dumped by Newmont in Buyat Bay had contaminated sediment and entered the food chain.
However, other tests failed to find abnormal levels of pollutants.
Newmont opened the North Sulawesi gold mine in 1996 and closed the site after the last ore was processed in August 2004.
The company also operates Asia's second-largest copper mine, Batu Hijau, on eastern Sumbawa island, which produced 718 million pounds of copper and 719,000 ounces of gold last year.
(US$1=9,025 Rupiah)
