Governor asks to examine villagers near Newmont?s mining area
Monday, June 17 2002 - 04:26 AM WIB
Tempo daily reported, Monday, that the governor has also asked the Provincial Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) to inspect the company?s tailing system which had been charged of causing the villagers in the area to suffer the illness.
He made the orders late last week after newspapers reported that many villagers lived near the mining site has suffered certain diseases.
According to findings made by the Team for the Comparative Study for Mining Victims, some 40 villagers living near the mining company?s mining area in Tongo village in the province?s Sengkoang district have suffered certain diseases believed to have originated from tailings of the mining company.
One of the team?s members, Dr Aidarus, who works as a forensic expert at the Cipto Mangunkusomo public hospital, said that the 40 villagers suffered illness symptoms such as serious headache, skin irritation and other skin diseases, as well as a cramp particularly during the night.
He feared that the diseases suffered by the Tongo villagers might be caused by mercury and arsenic, chemical elements generally used in the processing of gold ores but Senior Manager for Public Relations of PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, Robert Humberson, strongly denied if the villagers? diseases were caused by the company?s tailings.
Aidarus said that the illness suffered by the Tongo villagers were similar to those suffered by the villagers living near the Buyut Bay, the marine dumping area of NTT?s subsidiary in North Sulawesi, Newmont Minahasa.
Like Newmont Minahasa, Newmont Nusa Tenggara dumps its mineral waste or tailings into the nearby sea. The marine dumping system has, however, leaked for several times since its operation several years ago. (*)