Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesian prosecutors are appealing to the country’s Supreme Court the acquittal of a local unit of Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s second-largest gold miner, on pollution charges.
The district court of Manado in North Sulawesi province cleared PT Newmont Minahasa Raya on April 24 of polluting a local bay with mercury and arsenic.
“We submitted the appeal today,” Purwanta Sudarmaji, the chief prosecutor, said in a text message Monday.
Indonesia’s government wants to attract $22 billion in investment a year to benefit from metals prices that have risen to all-time highs.
The Newmont mine in question closed in August 2004 after reserves were depleted. The company has another mine in another island in the archipelago.
The Supreme Court will consider whether there are grounds to accept the appeal.
Newmont said an appeal of the full acquittal is against the law.
