Police extend detention of Newmont executives

Five executives from the American mining giant Newmont will continue to be jailed while facing pollution charges in Indonesia, police said Tuesday, despite test results that show "normal" mercury levels near a former gold mine.

"Today, we formally extend the arrest of the five suspects of the Buyat Bay pollution case," Brig. Gen. Suharto, chief of specific crime at the police headquarters was quoted by The Associated Press as saying.

The Indonesian government has detained the five executives of the Denver-based mining company in a Jakarta jail since Sept. 22 while police investigate allegations by residents that it dumped mercury and arsenic-laced mine waste into the sea off North Sulawesi.

Suharto said the extension was set for 40 days in order to facilitate the "completion and further process of the case."

Residents on Sulawesi claim the alleged dumping by Newmont Minahasa Raya, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corp., has caused them to suffer skin diseases and tumors. Villagers filed a lawsuit in August against the firm for US$550 million. If charged by Indonesian prosecutors and convicted by a court, the men face up to eight years in jail. (*)