Trial of Newmont executives will be resumed soon

The trial of the six executives of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya for their alleged roles in the environmental charge against the gold mining company would be resumed soon after the Supreme Court rejected the company's pre-trial appeal, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Saturday.

"We have been summoned to face the trial next Tuesday," the spokesman for the United States-based Newmont Corporation, said in New York. He said that Newmont was considering a number of legal options in dealing with the case such as an appeal to a higher court, legal settlement through international arbitrary or through an amicable solution.

The six executives include David Sompie, Putra Widjayatri, Richard Ness, Phil Turner, Jerry Konjansow and Bill Long - three of them are Indonesian citizens, and the others are an Australian and Americans. The have been put under a city arrest since September, last year. Newmont opposed the pretrial detention and appealed to Supreme Court to release the six executives but the appeal was rejected.

According to an investigation made by the government-sanctioned joint team, PT Newmont Minahasa Raya is guilty of contaminating the bay in North Sulawesi.

The joint team's report shows that levels of arsenic and mercury in the bay's seabed were 666 mg/kg and over 1.51 mg/kg respectively, far exceeding the maximum standards set in the 2004 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marine water quality criteria of 300 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg of sediment.

Newemont denied the charge, saying that the company's undersea dumping ground at the Buyat bay had met all the necessary requirements. (*)