NTB respects Newmont contract

The governor of West Nusatenggara (NTB) province Harun Al Rasyid has ruled out any plans to change the contract of works awarded to PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) to explore and produce gold in the province.

"Provincial administration of NTB respects the contract and will not seek any change in the contract to ensure legal certainty for foreign investments in the province," he told Detik.com at a sideline of a senior government officials' meeting in Bandung over the weekend.

The governor said he would not follow the move made by North Sulawesi province, which early this year took a legal action against Newmont Minahasa for not paying the local taxes. Harun said that the NTB administration felt nothing wrong with the contract awarded to Newmont Nusa Tenggara even though the contract was issued by the central government.

The United States-based Newmont Corporation operates several mining areas in the country. Newmont Minahasa, its subsidiary that operates the gold mine in Minahasa regency was sued recently for not paying the local taxes. The regency later dropped the contract after the company agreed to pay the taxes and increased contribution for its community development.

Harun said that his office had so far found nothing wrong with the company's operation in NTB but he warned that he could do the same if the company breached the contract and it paid no attention to the environment.

Newmont Nusa Tenggara began its commercial production in its Batuhijau mine operation in Sumbawa regency, NTB. The company expects to produce about 615 pounds of silver and 515,000 troy ounces of gold a year. The company estimates that the gold deposit in the gold mine reaches about 11.8 million troy ounces of gold. (*)