Newmont can take the government to international arbitrary
Friday, December 17 2004 - 03:22 AM WIB
PT Newmont Minahasa Raya has the right to take the Indonesian government to international arbitrary if the company thinks that the authority has violated its contract of works,Investor Daily reported on Friday.
The company's lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan said in Jakarta on Thursday that such a legal right was clearly stated in the contract of works signed by the company with the Indonesian government.
"The company can use the legal right to bring the government to the international arbitrary if it feels that it has been harassed by the government's decision," he said about the company's possible response to the report of the government-sponsored team on the company's undersea tailing dumping ground in Buyat bay located near its mining site in Minahasa, North Sulawesi.
The government-sanctioned joint team announced its official report on alleged Buyat Bay pollution here on Wednesday, maintaining its stance that PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) is guilty of contaminating the bay in North Sulawesi.
The joint team's report shows that levels of arsenic and mercury in the bay's seabed were 666 mg/kg and over 1.51 mg/kg respectively, far exceeding the maximum standards set in the 2004 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marine water quality criteria of 300 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg of sediment.
Vice President of PT Newmont Indonesia, Robert Callagher, said that the pollution charge had caused a lot of disadvantages to the company such as the fall of the company's share price on the New Yortk Stock Exchange and the loss of business opportunities suffered by fishermen living near the Buyat bay.
He therefore called on the government to review the team's report saying that the report was based on wrong interpretation and false information on the operation of the company's undersea waste disposal.
"Newmont would never use a mining system if it will cause a damage to the environment," he said.
The police earlier detained six NMR executives as suspects in the case but later placed them under city arrest. Their case files are being examined by prosecutors. The six suspects could be charged under the Environmental Management Law, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 750 million (US$84,269). (*)