NGO to sue Newcrest
Thursday, April 29 2004 - 02:02 AM WIB
The claim is over its troubled gold operations in North Maluku, with activists claiming the mine breaches forestry laws.
The environmental watchdog coalition WALHI-Friends of the Earth said the $A100 million ($US72.11 million) Toguraci mining project on Halmahera island was illegal under forestry laws prohibiting open-cut mining in protected forest areas.
"Indonesian forests are in crisis, with the deforestation rate reaching more than 3.5 million hectares per year," said Nur Hidayati from WALHI, which stands for The Indonesian Forum for the Environment.
"Newcrest's operation in Toguraci Protected Forest is brazenly violating our forestry law and also their contract of work with our government, which states that foreign mining operators will conform to environmental law and regulation during their operations in Indonesia."
The Toguraci mine has been beset by difficulties since its beginning, with local people occupying the mine site and claiming a larger share of royalties from Newcrest, as well as ancestral land rights over the area.
The mine is located close to another Newcrest operation at Gosowong, which began in 1999 and then closed down amid sectarian Muslim-Christian clashes in the area.
In January this year, police from Indonesia's elite but notorious Mobile Brigade shot and killed an unauthorised miner while being paid by Newcrest to defend the Toguraci site.
Indonesia's government recently passed new laws allowing mining in protected forest areas provided companies had secured leases prior to the introduction of the forestry laws.
Newcrest's Maluku operations were covered in the changes, which were designed to reassure overseas investors and ease international uncertainty.
But Nur said the Toguraci mine was still illegal because it was a banned open pit operation, while the amended laws permitted only underground mining.
"What is still forbidden is the open pit method of operation," she said.
"We will be challenging this in the South Jakarta Court in early May."
The Toguraci protesters' claims have been denied by Newcrest, which says it was last year given a Department of Mines permit to proceed at Toguraci.
Igor O'Neil, from Australia's Mineral Policy Institute, said the protesters wanted Newcrest brought under control.
"They want Newcrest to prevent violence by the Brimob paramilitary security force, and respect the environment protection laws and the rights of Halmahera's indigenous and local people to sustainable livelihoods on their traditional land," he said.
Liz Turner from Friends of the Earth in Melbourne also attacked Australian Embassy officials in Jakarta for lobbying Indonesia's government in support of Newcrest, and the continued presence of Brimob, which has a poor human rights record.(*)