Govt questions status of new shares offered by Newmont

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is questioning the status of the 7 percent stake being offered to the government by copper and gold miner PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), the Indonesian unit of US mining giant Newmont Corp.

The ministry's Director General for Mineral, Coal and Geothermal Resources Simon Sembiring said in Jakarta Wednesday that the government would respond the company's offer only after the firm clarified the status of the shares.

He said that if the shares were still held by the bank as loan collaterals, they could not be sold to the government.

"Therefore their status should be clarified first before being offered," he said, adding that the ministry would not make the same mistake as it did with the divestment of NNT's ten percent shares.

Simon said the price set by NNT for the 7 percent shares -- US$426 million -- is too expensive. "I was totally suprised. Why the price this year is higher. What has happened? Has copper price risen by 200 percent?"

In 2006, NNT offered a 3 percent stake for $106 million. The following year, the firm offered another 7 percent at the price of $282 million.

NNT's spokesman Rubi Purnomo said that the price was set by the firm based on assessment by international independent consultant Valuater, who used the same method as applied in the assessment to set the prices for the divestment of the previous shares.

Meanwhile, Newmont?s Martiono Hadianto refused to make any comments when asked about the government's question over the status of the shares. "We will answer the question only after the government gives an official enquiry," he said. (godang)