Announcement of the winner of Martabe mine auction delayed

The ministry of energy and mineral resources, and Newmont Corp. have delayed the announcement of the winner for the auction of the Martabe gold mine in Tapanuli, North Sumatra, until next week after one of auction participants Yusuf Merukh protested the two qualified bidders named by Newmont, Investor Daily reported on Wednesday.

"We delay the announcement of the auction winner until next week to give Newmont the time to settle the problem with Yusuf Merukh," said Mangantar S. Marpaung, Director of Coal and Mineral at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Yusuf Merukh, a Newmont partner in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, said that he opposed the appointment of a consortium of Agincourt Resources and a consortium of Aneka Tambang as the most qualified bidders for the Martabe mine because the appointment of the two bidders was against Newmont's promise to him.

Yusuf who claimed to have offered US$91.75 million for the mine said that Newmont had promised to award the mine to him. But president director of Newmont Pacific Nusantara Noke Kiroyan denied that Newmont had made any such promise with Yusuf.

The Martabe gold and copper mine is operated by PT Newmont Horas Nauli, which is 90 percent owned by Newmont Corporation. The other 10 percent is owned by local company PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya.

Pre-feasibility study on the gold project conducted by previous owner Normandy Mining in 2002 revealed that high returns from the project could be achieved from a heap or dump leach operation for a low entry capital of approximately US$30 million and operating cost of approximately US$105/oz, with an indicative average annual production of 150,000ozs. (*)