Jakarta, Indonesia – An Indonesian court ruled today that detaining five executives of Newmont Mining Corp. was illegal, and the head of the Denver-based mining giant said he was optimistic the company and its employees would be exonerated of pollution charges at its Indonesian gold mine.
In an interview with The Associated Press, CEO Wayne Murdy acknowledged that the Indonesian mine, where sick villagers have launched a $543 million suit against the company, released 17 tons of waste mercury into the air and 16 tons into the water over five years.
But he said the emissions were within Indonesian government standards – which he said amounted to the equivalent of 22 tons per year until 2000, when the country lowered the permissible limit to 11 tons per year.
“We were well below any Indonesian standards and well below any U.S. Environmental Protection standards,” he said by telephone from Denver. “We have an excellent environmental record worldwide.”
However, an EPA staff member called the release of 33 tons of mercury into the air and water over several years at the gold mine in central Indonesia “a major concern.”
The admission by Newmont – the world’s largest gold producer – is the latest setback for the company in its six-month battle to defend itself against pollution allegations in Indonesia, one of several countries where it has faced similar accusations.
Authorities have accused its Indonesian subsidiary, Newmont Minahasa Raya, of dumping heavy metals into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi island, causing residents to develop skin diseases and tumors.
The company received some good news when a court ruled the detention of five of its executives in the case was illegal and it lifted a travel ban on them.
The five executives – an American, an Australian and three Indonesians – were accused of corporate crimes in connection with the alleged pollution. A trial could begin as soon as next month, and if convicted, they could face up to 15 years in jail.
Newmont hailed the court’s decision and said it had ruled the entire investigation was illegal. Prosecutors and police, however, said the ruling had no bearing on the case.
“We’re very concerned,” Murdy said after the court ruling. “But I am confident that any fair hearing of the facts will exonerate the individuals and the company of any allegations.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday that an internal company report described the mercury release as “significant” and that a cleaning system to control the problem often did not work. The internal report also said the company wasn’t abiding by its public claims that it was upholding U.S. environmental standards, the Times said.
Murdy said the article “draws incorrect conclusions.” “It makes me feel very upset because there has been no scientific studies that anyone has referenced that shows any of these allegation are true,” Murdy said.
An EPA staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the mercury release was “significant by American standards. It’s a huge amount of mercury to be releasing into the environment,” the official said.
The EPA staffer said Newmont could not have operated the same way in the United States.
The company has said the EPA does not require a permit for mercury emissions or review of a site that releases less than 10 tons of mercury per year.
Tests on the bay have produced conflicting results.
The World Health Organization and an initial Environment Ministry report found the water unpolluted, but a subsequent ministry study found arsenic levels in the seabed were 100 times higher at the waste-dumping site than in other parts of the bay.
Newmont, which operates on five continents, has faced pollution accusations in Nevada, as well as Peru and Turkey.
Newmont stopped mining two years ago at the Sulawesi site, 1,300 miles northeast of the capital, Jakarta, after extracting all the gold it could, but kept processing ore there until Aug. 31, when the mine was permanently shut.
