Newmont Mining to Challenge Pollution Case

MANADO, Indonesia — The world's largest gold mining company will return to court Friday to defend itself against charges that it polluted a bay in Indonesia, sickening villagers who lived nearby.

Lawyers for Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. are expected to argue that the investigation was flawed and that the law has been poorly applied.

The trial, which opened two weeks ago on Sulawesi Island, is being closely watched by business leaders who say a guilty verdict could set back Indonesia's improving foreign investment climate.

The government says the company's Indonesian subsidiary, Newmont Minahasa Raya, violated environmental laws by dumping millions of tons of mercury and arsenic-laced pollutants into the Buyat Bay, allegedly causing villagers to develop skin diseases and other illnesses.

It is holding that company's chief, American Richard Ness, accountable. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $68,000 if convicted.

Newmont has repeatedly said the charges are baseless, citing test data that found the bay was not polluted.

But its defense plea on Friday is expected to focus almost entirely on the legal flaws it says are in the 72-page indictment.

The company refused to discuss its legal strategy publicly this week. But in the past, it has said it would challenge the case against Ness, saying that such a challenge doesn't have a basis in Indonesia's environmental law.

It will also argue that authorities failed first to bring up the company on administrative charges -- as required by law -- and that police ignored evidence that favored the company.

Prosecutors are expect to respond to the Newmont plea in the coming weeks and a judge will rule by mid-September.

Source: Associated Press