Indonesia Newmont Minahasa Negotiates Over Land Dispute

Indonesian gold miner PT Newmont Minahasa Raya said Monday it will continue to negotiate with villagers over a land dispute after the former landholders forced a brief closure of the Sulawesi mine over the weekend.

Newmont Minahasa, a unit of Newmont Corp. (NEM) of the U.S., said the villagers were demanding additional compensation for the land they sold to the company in the mid-1990s.

The company said in a statement that it stopped its milling and processing operations at Mesel, Minahasa, - in the province of Sulawesi - for one day until late Sunday when 50 villagers entered the site.

Paul Lahti, Newmont Minahasa general manager, said the closure of the mine was to ensure safety was maintained.

Lahti said Newmont's senior management met with five representatives of the group to hear their concerns and said they will met again June 26.

"To our knowledge, we have followed the rules and obligation in paying compensation for land or areas that we were using for our mine operation," Lahti said.

In April, the Newmont Minahasa mine was at the center of a dispute with local authorities over back taxes on overburden removed from its mine.

The Minahasa regency sued Newmont in a local court for $8 million in taxes. The district court had ordered the closure of the mine until the dispute was resolved.

The two groups later reached a settlement, with Newmont agreeing to pay about $500,000 in taxes on 379,000 tons of waste material from the mine. (*)