"Buyat bay is not polluted," says Minister of Energy

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that he strongly believed that the Buyat bay was not polluted despite the fact that the result of the investigation of the independent team comprising of government officials, mining experts and non-government organizations concluded that the sea area had been polluted with hazardous metal, Koran Tempo reported on Friday.

"Frankly speaking, we strongly believe that the Buyat bay is not polluted," the minister said. His statement was also supported by Director General of Geology and Mineral Resources Simon F. Sembiring who said that the method of the investigation carried out by the independent team was questionable.

The result of the investigation of the team showed a high content of arsenic in the Buyat bay "because the sample it used was taken from a place like a waste dumping ground," he said.

Sembiring said that the arsenic content found in the Buyat bay based on the ministry's own investigation was still far below the minimum level determined by the health ministry. "The independent team compared the arsenic level in the Buyat bay with that of the mineral water," he added.

The government said recently that it would file a legal suit against PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in North Sulawesi after the unveiling of the result of the investigation on the alleged pollution caused by the mining company's undersea tailing ground in the Buyat bay.

Sembiring called on the State Minister of Environmental Affairs to disclose the details of the result of the independent team's investigation to the public so that its validity could be also tested by relevant mining experts. (*)