Indonesians protest the use of protected forests for mining

By Heather Draper, Rocky Mountain News

July 23, 2003

Denver's Newmont Mining Co. again finds itself a target of protest, this time in Southeast Asia.  In the past 10 days, environmentalists, academics and the government officials of some Indonesian provinces have protested the push to allow multinational mining companies onto protected forest lands. Protesters have focused on the role of sponsoring national embassies - including the United States and Australia - in actively lobbying for access to the forest lands.  Newmont and New Orleans- based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. have been the biggest corporate targets of protesters, although up to 124 mining companies may be granted access to the forest lands if the law passes, the

Jakarta Post reported Tuesday.  Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, operates and holds a 56.25 percent interest in the Batu Hijau copper-gold mine on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The mine contributed about $42 million to Newmont's equity income last year.

Newmont says the Indonesian government contractually awarded the company the right to mine on forest lands that the government later named protected lands.

"The government went through a few years ago and they converted what they termed limited production forest to protection forest," said Bob Humberson, Newmont senior manager of external relations at Batu Hijau. "Some of those protected forests are actually bare rocks that have never had a tree on them," Humberson said. "We currently have no active exploration in protected forests. However, we would like the Indonesian government to fulfill its contractual obligations." Environmental groups argue the forest land in question is already in peril

and that open-pit mining will further endanger the rare inhabitants of Indonesian forests.

"Indonesia's forests harbor some of the most unique and rare species in the world, including orangutans, tigers, tarsiers, Sumatran rhinoceroses and Moluccan cockatoos, said Monica Engebretson of the Animal Protection Institute, a Sacramento, Calif., nonprofit. "We are appalled that U.S.-owned mining companies have lined up to exploit these sensitive forests if given the go-ahead."

Humberson said Newmont's environmental practices in Indonesia match its U.S. standards.

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