Newmont's big boss denies pollution charge
Monday, July 24 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
PT Newmont Minahasa Raya has strongly denied the charge that the mineral waste, or tailings the company dumped into the Buyat Bay river, near its mining operation in Rotatok, Minahasa, North Sulawesi, has caused major pollution.
Ronald Cambre, the chairman of the United State-based gold mining giant, the charge that Newmont's undersea dumping site has heavily damaged the ecosystem and the environment in the sea was baseless.
"The charge was groundless and there is no pollution problem in Minahasa" said Cambre as quoted by Mandiri online news service. The mining giant's big boss, who last week met President Abdurrahman Wahid to discuss the country's mining industry, said that an environmental audit carried out by the government showed nothing wrong with the tailings.
The country's noted environmental group Walhi has asked the government to temporarily suspend the operation of Newmont's gold mine in the Rotatok district for alleged environmental destruction and data manipulation.
The organization's senior executive Moudy Gerungan said in Manado last week at the company's gold mine operation should be temporarily closed to allow an independent team to study the impact of its mining activities.
According to Moudy, the company's submarine dumping site in the Buyat Bay has caused a massive destruction to the environment. He also charged that the company had manipulated information and data to cover up the environmental crime it had made in the area.
He said that the group's special team had conducted a survey in cooperation with the local community recently to study the impact of the company's mining operation especially its dumping site in the Buyat Bay.
"The results of the survey show that tons of tailings or mineral waste dumped by the company into the Buyat Bay have caused a major destruction to the coral reef. A great number of spices that used to live in the bay have been disappeared due to the tailings, " he said. (*)