Newmont CEO acknowledges mercury leaks in Indonesia, denies health impact: Report

The head of U.S. mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. defended his company's environmental record Thursday, saying mercury emissions at a controversial Indonesian gold mine were well within the country's standards and posed no health hazards.

Wayne Murdy, CEO of the Denver-based Newmont, acknowledged that the Indonesia mine, where sick villagers have launched a US$543 million suit against the company, released 17 tons of waste mercury into the air and 16 tons into the water over five years.

But he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the emissions were below Indonesian government standards, which he said amounted to the equivalent of 22 tons per year until 2000, when the country lowered the permissible limit to 11 tons per year.

"We were well below any Indonesian standards and well below any U.S. Environmental Protection standards," he said from Denver. "We have an excellent environmental record worldwide."

However, a staff member for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called the release of 33 tons of mercury into the air and water over several years at the gold mine in central Indonesia "a major concern."

The admission by Newmont ? the world's largest gold producer ? is the latest setback for the company in its six-month battle to defend itself against pollution allegations in Indonesia, one of several countries where it has faced similar accusations.

Indonesian authorities have accused its local subsidiary, Newmont Minahasa Raya, of dumping heavy metals into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi island, causing residents to develop skin diseases and tumors.

The company received some good news Thursday when a court ruled the detention of five of its executives over the case was illegal, and lifted a travel ban on them.

The five executives ? an American, an Australian and three Indonesians ? were accused of corporate crimes in connection with the alleged pollution. They were released in October after a month in prison, but still face trial as soon as next month. If found guilty, the men could face up to 15 years in jail.

Newmont hailed the court's decision, and said it had ruled the entire investigation was illegal. Prosecutors and police, however, said the ruling had no bearing on the case.

"We're very concerned," Murdy said later Thursday after the court ruling. "But I am confident that any fair hearing of the facts will exonerate the individuals and the company of any allegations."

The New York Times reported Wednesday that an internal company report described the mercury release as "significant" and that a cleaning system to control the problem often did not work. The internal report also said the company wasn't abiding by its public claims that it was upholding U.S. environmental standards, the Times said.

Murdy said the article "draws incorrect conclusions."

"It makes me feel very upset because there has been no scientific studies that anyone has referenced that shows any of these allegation are true," Murdy said.

An EPA staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the mercury release was "significant by American standards. It's a huge amount of mercury to be releasing into the environment," the official said.

The EPA staffer said Newmont could not have operated the same way in the United States.

"They would be required to have pollution control equipment and it would have to work," the staff member said. "If it was not operating properly, they would have to notify EPA how it would be fixed. If they didn't, they would be subject to criminal and civil penalties."

The company has said the EPA does not require a permit for mercury emissions or review of a site that releases less than 10 tons of mercury per year.

Myriad tests on the bay have produced conflicting results.

The World Health Organization and an initial Environment Ministry report found the water unpolluted.

But a subsequent ministry study found that arsenic levels in the seabed were 100 times higher at the waste-dumping site than in other parts of the bay.

Newmont, which operates on five continents, has faced a string of pollution accusations in Peru, Turkey and the state of Nevada.

Newmont stopped mining two years ago at the Sulawesi site, 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) northeast of the capital, Jakarta, after extracting all the gold it could, but kept processing ore there until Aug. 31, 2004, when the mine was permanently shut. (*)