Jakarta, Indonesia – In his seven years at the helm of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Indonesia operations, Richard Ness has seen one mine threatened with closure over a tax dispute and has faced allegations the company stole land from villagers.
But those headaches pale in comparison with what the 55- year-old father of five now faces: He went on trial Friday over claims that Newmont’s gold mine on Sulawesi island polluted a bay and sickened villagers.
If convicted, he faces a decade behind bars.
“It’s been hard for a lot of people,” Ness, president director of the company’s local unit, Newmont Minahasa Raya, told The Associated Press.
“My wife, of course, does not like to see pictures of her husband on the front page of the paper alleging pollution charges,” he said. “But at the same time, we have to remain confident that we have done the right thing.”
The Denver-based company and Ness insist they will be found innocent of the charges, saying the trial will show Newmont did not harm the environment or the villagers living around Buyat Bay.
Ness, who grew up on a farm outside Thief River Falls, Minn., came to Indonesia in 1979 to write a training manual for mining giant Freeport McMoRan Co.
He says he “enjoyed the challenges of operating in a remote environment” and stayed, marrying an Indonesian woman, converting in the 1990s to Islam and working as a mining consultant for international companies.
He joined Newmont in 1998 – two years after it opened its gold mine on Buyat Bay – and quickly became a leading voice for mining reform in a country that has earned a reputation for corruption and layers of red tape.
Under his tenure, the company has had its difficulties.
Newmont fought off a court order to shut its Buyat Bay mine in 2000 after the local government took it to court in a tax dispute.
And the company has become a favorite target of environmentalists, who claimed its policy of dumping mine waste at sea killed fish and sickened coastal residents.
So when the latest pollution allegations broke nationally last year, the first reaction from Ness and the company was to dismiss them out of hand.
“I remember the first day this broke out,” Ness said. “I said I was confident that Buyat Bay was not polluted and was comfortable with our fish monitoring.”
His confidence could not have been more misplaced.
Police dragged Ness in for hours of questioning, and five other Newmont executives were jailed in September for a month over the allegations. Ness remained free only because he has heart problems.
Still, Ness was initially barred from traveling outside the country, preventing him from attending the funeral in the United States of his 20-month-old daughter in January, who died following a brief visit to Indonesia.
As the trial approached, Ness seemed more stunned at the developments than angry.
A plain-spoken man with the low-key demeanor of an engineer, Ness said he never considered “running away.” But he is eager to put the pollution allegations to rest.
“Nobody wants to be accused of committing a crime,” he said. “Nobody wants to be accused of harming people, creating pollution.”
