Newmont finds 150 mine locations in NTB
Thursday, June 8 2000 - 03:45 AM WIB
PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) has found gold deposits in 150 locations in its gold mine in Batuhijau West Nusatengara (NTB) covering an area of about 2.2 million hectares since the company started its exploration several years ago, Jawa Pos reported on Thursday.
The company's chief commissioner Yusuf Merukh said in the provincial capital of Mataram on Wednesday that the gold mine operator would only operate five of them covering an area of about 119,000 hectares.
"The other 145 mine locations covering an area of about 2 million hectares have been returned back to the local government," he said, adding that the local government might offer the mine locations to other companies.
A mining company, according to the mining regulations, is allowed to explore oil mining areas of up to 2 million hectares but the production activities are only limited to "hundreds of hectares".
Yusuf, the local partner of the United States-based Newmont in operating the Batuhijau gold mine, said that the mining company, which only started its commercial production last year, has employed about 5,500 workers, about 65 percent of the workforce are locals.
He said that Minister of Mines and Energy Bambang Yudhoyono and NTB governor Harun Al Rayid were scheduled to inaugurate the company's operation on June 18. (*)