Newmont Minahasa always in close guard to curb pollution

PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, a gold mine operator in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, again assured the local people and environment activists that it has always been in a close guard to curb pollution in its mining site.

The company's manager for government relations and community development Tri Harjono said in Manado on Tuesday that the company always abides by the government's regulation and guidelines in protecting the environment near its mining sites.

"For example, we periodically report all our protection measures and activities to related government agencies to ensure that the company's operation did not pose a negative impact on the environment," he said.

He was commenting the statement made by the Indonesian environmental group Walhi that Newmont Minahasa did have any good intention to protect the environment.

Walhi is not Newmont's enemy, he said. But according to him, the environmental group seemed to be unrealistic in expressing its opposition toward the company's operation.

He said that Walhi was once invited to join an independent team to study the impact of the company's undersea disposal area but the offer was rejected on the ground that the study was financed by Newmont.

But when the result of the study was released, Walhi had became the first to criticize it with its own reasons, he added

"We will be very happy and will certainly welcome any effort to carry out study on the impact of Newmont operation, especially if they want to finance the study them selves," he said. (*)