A summary of a new report that sides with Newmont Mining Corp. regarding its environmental practices in Indonesia may help clear six Newmont employees under criminal investigation, company officials said Monday.
The summary, issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, shows no correlation between Newmont’s mine waste and health problems reported by people living on Buyat Bay near Newmont’s Minahasa mine.
“The average concentration of all heavy metals being examined was still under the tolerable level,” states the summary, which was translated into English by Newmont.
An environmental group said the sampling size disclosed in the summary was too small – just 14 of 222 respondents live on the bay – to be meaningful.
The Newmont employees were arrested last year and remain under investigation for Newmont’s alleged mining pollution in Buyat on the island of Sulawesi. Denver-based Newmont is the world’s largest gold mining company.
“We would hope that (the new report) helps clear our employees,” Newmont spokesman Doug Hock said. “It’s the government that brought the investigation, and now it’s the government that has conducted this study. We certainly hope the prosecutor takes that into account.”
Newmont also is the subject of a civil lawsuit by the Indonesian government. The parties are now mediating the suit.
The Newmont employees named as suspects in the criminal investigation are Americans Richard Ness, 55, and Bill Long, 58; Australian Phil Turner, 60; and Indonesians David Sompie, 33, Jerry Kojansow, 40, and Putra Widjayatri, 46.
The men are unable to leave the country, and they could face trial in coming months. If found guilty, each could face up to 15 years in prison. Each man is married with children.
Last fall, five of the men were jailed for a month during an investigation by the Indonesian police. Ness, Minahasa’s manager, was not jailed because of health problems.
Independent studies have found that Buyat Bay’s water is not contaminated, but that sediments have high levels of mercury and arsenic. Newmont dumped about 5 million tons of waste into the bay, a practice it says was approved by the government.
The company acknowledged in December that it dumped 16 tons of mercury into the bay over a 4 1/2-year period but said that it was permitted to do so. Newmont also said it released 17 tons of mercury into the air from its processing plant at Minahasa.
Newmont has successfully fended off some of its critics in Indonesia. Villagers dropped a $543 million lawsuit against the company in December. In February, an Indonesian doctor who accused Newmont of causing mercury poisoning in the village retracted her allegations.
The summary released Friday by the Indonesian health ministry is difficult to interpret because of the small sampling size, said Payal Sampat of Washington-based Earthworks, a mining environmental activist group.
A University of Colorado toxicology professor hired by Newmont, Gary Krieger, agreed that the small sampling makes analysis difficult.
“That’s a legitimate issue,” he said. “The sample sizes are not what you might have wanted them to be.”
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
Newmont’s Indonesia travails
July 20, 2004: Four residents living near the Minahasa mine, above, file criminal complaints with Indonesian law enforcement officials over alleged health problems from mining pollution.
Aug. 31: Newmont completes processing of stockpile ore at the Minahasa.
Sept. 3: Three Indonesian villagers file a $543 million civil claim against Newmont, alleging that mine tailings have sickened nearby residents.
Sept. 22-23: Six Newmont employees are detained by police. Five of them are jailed for one month.
Dec. 22: The civil case is settled, with the villagers admitting there is no evidence that illnesses were caused by mine waste.
March 10: The Ministry of Environment files a $133.7 million civil suit, seeking damages for alleged pollution of Buyat Bay.
Source: Denver Post research
