Govt rejects villagers' claims vs Newmont unit: Report

The government Friday rejected claims that villagers living near an American-owned gold mine in Central Indonesia were suffering from a deadly form of mercury poisoning caused by industrial water contamination, Associated Press reported.

Newmont Minahasa Raya, a unit of U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), is being sued by residents of Ratatotok village in North Sulawesi, who say that over the past eight years 30 people there have died of Minamata disease.

"Our preliminary research shows that there are no signs of Minamata disease," Health Minister Sujudi told reporters Friday. "There is some mercury poisoning, but it isn't hazardous."

The Health Ministry conducted tests on hair and skin samples from villagers in Ratatotok.

Newmont has denied contaminating water supplies in the area.

Operations at the mine, located about 2,100 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, are scheduled to cease in October because gold ore deposits are depleted.

Friday, Sujudi said there was no evidence that the 30 deaths in Ratatotok were due to mercury poising, and he pointed out that dozens of people have died of respiratory illness and tuberculosis in the area because they couldn't afford proper medical attention.

Minamata disease is one of the most serious illnesses linked to environmental contamination from industrial waste. It was first identified in the 1950s, when more than 1,400 people died and thousands of others were sickened or crippled after eating mercury-tainted fish caught in Japan's Minamata Bay. (*)