Selalu Legini not yet protected forest: Newmont

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), a gold and copper mine operator in Sumbawa, West Nusatenggara, said that the Selalu Legini forest area has not become a forest conservation area as claimed by the local green activists, Tempo Interaktif reported on Saturday.

The company's spokesperson Iradati Fuad said that the Indonesian government and several international agencies conducted in 1982 an intensive study to identify some areas in the Selalu Legini forests, which could be recommended as forest conservation areas.

Several efforts had been also made to support the recommendation, she said, adding that Newmont and Birdlife International was still working to determine classifications which could back the recommendation, he said.

Selalu Legini forest area, located near the mining concession of the United States-based Newmont Corporation in West Nusatenggara, keeps countless number of animal and plant species.

Non-governmental organization in West Nusatenggara have demanded the government to re-map the concession areas of PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) to ensure that the company's mining operation would not affect the Selalu Legini conservation area.

Branches of LP3S and Walhi research and environmental groups said on recently that the re-mapping of the mining company's operation in the province was essential to find out the ideal limit of the company's mining areas so that the environment in the conservation area would not be damaged. (*)