Newmont awaits WHO study in Indonesia: Report
Monday, September 20 2004 - 06:49 AM WIB
Indonesians are claiming that tailings in the bay are causing sickness, and Newmont is trying to counter allegations related to the closed gold mine, while at the same time facing problems in Peru and Turkey.
"All the sampling we've done indicates that the metals in the tailings are below the standard and not harmful to aquatic life and people in the area," Newmont spokesman Doug Hock said this week from Denver headquarters.
He said Newmont encouraged the Indonesian government to bring in the World Health Organization to check out the allegations, look at the people and sample the bay.
"There are trace amounts of mercury and arsenic, but not at the levels that would be harmful to aquatic life and humans," Hock said.
A number of Indonesians near the mine are claiming the tailings are making them sick and they blame the death of one child on Newmont. They also claim the tailings are driving away the fish.
According to news reports, an Indonesian government panel announced Newmont illegally disposed of waste containing arsenic and mercury into the ocean and failed to obtain the necessary permits.
The government announcement came after a local legal aid group filed a lawsuit seeking $543 million in damages from Newmont over the baby's death and the illness of two others, including the baby's mother.
The New York Times quoted a physician, Jane Pangemanan, as saying she was shocked when she examined about 60 people and found that 80 percent showed mercury and arsenic poisoning symptoms.
The people had cysts and lumps, according to the report.
Hock said people living along the bay had skin diseases before Newmont began developing Minahasa, and when people started complaining more recently, the local hospital staff tested the people and performed biopsies.
The diseases they found were similar to scabies, Hock said.
Newmont dumped tailings from gold processing into the bay in a process called submarine tailings placement, and Hock said there are critics of the method and anti-mining activists "pushing this."
The Peru troubles began on Sept. 2, when protesters blockaded the only road to the Yanacocha Mine. They oppose Newmont's exploration that could lead to a surface operation in the same watershed as the nearest town from Yanacocha.
Newmont also had to close a mine in Turkey, at least temporarily, over environmental permitting.
Dow Jones reported this week that the overall theme of the actions in Indonesia, Peru and Turkey is that Newmont is doing things to the environments of poor nations that it wouldn't try in the United States.
"Unfortunately, it's just one of those misconceptions that never seems to go away," Newmont's vice president of environmental affairs and sustainable development, David Baker, told Dow Jones.
He said Newmont uses the same environmental standards at all its mines worldwide.
Newmont stated in a response to the New York Times article that the company has extensively monitored the environment adjacent to Minahasa, including the bay, and the company had permits for the tailings disposal.
The company also reported that Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization recently reconfirmed that the water quality in the bay is within standards designed to protect humans and the environment.
"We're saying there is no pollution in Buyat Bay," Hock said.
Minahasa went into gold production in 1996, and mining ended in 2001, while all ore processing ended in August. (*)