You are here
Ted Butler: With silver, start with the facts and then apply your imagination
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050215/newmont_mining_indonesia_2.html
DENVER -- The Indonesian doctor who accused Newmont Mining Corp. of
poisoning villagers near its Minahasa gold mine there has retracted
her allegations.
Dr. Jane Pangemanan sent a letter to Indonesian police earlier this
month saying her complaints lodged against Newmont that claimed the
company's mine waste disposal had caused diseases among local
villagers were "premature."
"The accusations I made ... claiming that the tailings produced by
(Newmont's Indonesian subsidiary) caused the disease suffered by some
residents of Buyat Pantai village were premature because there was
never any scientific, comprehensive, detailed and integrated proof,"
Pangemanan wrote in a letter to police. Dow Jones got a copy of the
letter from Newmont.
Pangemanan said she was retracting her allegations "without any
coercion, pressure or threat from any party."
Denver-based Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, had filed a
defamation suit against Pangemanan, which the company has dropped as
result of her retraction, Newmont spokesman Doug Hock said.
He said no money was involved in Newmont's defamation settlement with
Pangemanan.
Newmont has been embroiled in months of controversy over its Minahasa
mine on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Indonesian authorities have accused Newmont's Indonesian unit, PT
Newmont Minahasa Raya, of dumping mercury and arsenic into nearby
Buyat Bay, causing residents to develop tumors and skin diseases.
Newmont has repeatedly denied the charges.
An attorney for Newmont's Indonesian unit, PT Newmont Minahasa Raya,
has demanded that the police investigation into the alleged pollution
at Buyat Bay be closed and all charges be dropped.
"We believe that the police may have been misled," Newmont lawyer
Luhut Pangaribuan said in a prepared statement. "In light of this new
development, the police have an excellent opportunity to re-examine
their action."
Pangemanan's original complaint launched the pollution investigation,
which landed five Newmont executives in a Jakarta jail for a month
last fall. Indonesian officials have since said that the jailings
were illegal, although the executives still are banned from leaving
the country, Hock said.
Pangemanan was also a key figure in a $543 million civil suit filed
against Newmont by three villagers. The suit was later dropped when
the lawyer for villagers -- who was facing a defamation lawsuit by
Newmont -- said they had no evidence to back up their claims.
A third person that Newmont sued for defamation, Rignolda Djamaludin,
has not retracted his claims that Newmont had caused diseases from
its mine wastes and even killed some Buyat Bay villagers. Rignolda
couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.
Pangemanan's complaint and the civil suit comprised much of the basis
for the police investigation, Hock said.
"The two foundations of this whole investigation have now fallen
away," Hock said.
"More importantly, all the studies to date have shown that the
operation has had no impact on people or the water or the fish at
Buyat Bay," he said.
Newmont stopped mining at the Minahasa site about two years ago when
the gold deposits were exhausted, but continued to process ore until
August. The company plans to close the facility entirely within three
years, after a skeleton staff finishes reclaiming land disturbed by
the open-pit mine.
----------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to GATA's dispatches, send an e-mail to:
gata-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:
gata-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDED INTERNET SITES
FOR DAILY MONITORING OF GOLD
AND PRECIOUS METALS
NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Free sites:
http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com
http://www.capitalupdates.com/
http://www.silver-investor.com
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
http://www.goldismoney.info/index.html
http://www.minersmanual.com/minernews.html
http://www.a1-guide-to-gold-investments.com/euro-vs-dollar.html
http://www.investmentrarities.com
http://www.kereport.com
(Korelin Business Report -- audio)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/home.htm
(In Spanish)
http://www.plata.com.mx/plata/plata/english.htm
(In English)
http://www.resourceinvestor.com
Subscription sites:
http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/
http://www.interventionalanalysis.com
http://www.investmentindicators.com/
Eagle Ranch discussion site:
http://os2eagle.net/checksum.htm
Ted Butler silver commentary archive:
http://www.investmentrarities.com/
----------------------------------------------------
COIN AND PRECIOUS METALS DEALERS
WHO HAVE SUPPORTED GATA
AND BEEN RECOMMENDED
BY OUR MEMBERS
Blanchard & Co. Inc.
909 Poydras St., Suite 1900
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
888-413-4653
http://www.blanchardonline.com
Centennial Precious Metals
3033 East First Ave., Suite 807
Denver, Colorado 80206
1-800-869-5115
http://www.USAGOLD.com
Michael Kosares, Proprietor
cpm@usagold.com
Colorado Gold
222 South 5th St.
Montrose, Colorado 81401
http://www.ColoradoGold.com
Don Stott, Proprietor
1-888-786-8822
Gold@gwe.net
El Dorado Discount Gold
Box 11296
Glendale, Arizona 85316
http://www.eldoradogold.net
Harvey Gordin, President
Office: 623-434-3322
Mobile: 602-228-8203
harvey@eldoradogold.net
Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Mespil House
37 Adelaide Rd
Dublin 2
Ireland
+353 1 2315260/6
Fax: +353 1 2315202
http://www.goldinvestments.org
info@gold.ie
Investment Rarities Inc.
7850 Metro Parkway
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55425
http://www.gloomdoom.com
Greg Westgaard, Sales Manager
1-800-328-1860, Ext. 8889
gwestgaard@investmentrarities.com
Kitco
178 West Service Road
Champlain, N.Y. 12919
Toll Free:1-877-775-4826
Fax: 518-298-3457
and
620 Cathcart, Suite 900
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1M1
Canada
Toll-free:1-800-363-7053
Fax: 514-875-6484
http://www.kitco.com
Lee Certified Coins
P.O. Box 1045
454 Daniel Webster Highway
Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054
http://www.certifiedcoins.com
Ed Lee, Proprietor
1-800-835-6000
leecoins@aol.com
Miles Franklin Ltd.
3015 Ottawa Ave. South
St. Louis Park, Minn. 55416
1-800-822-8080 / 952-929-1129
fax: 952-925-0143
http://www.milesfranklin.com
Contacts: David Schectman,
Andy Schectman, and Bob Sichel
Missouri Coin Co.
11742 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-4614
info@mocoin.com
314-965-9797
1-800-280-9797
http://www.mocoin.com
Resource Consultants Inc.
6139 South Rural Road
Suite 103
Tempe, Arizona 85283-2929
Pat Gorman, Proprietor
1-800-494-4149, 480-820-5877
Metalguys@aol.com
Swiss America Trading Corp.
15018 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, Arizona 85032
http://www.swissamerica.com
Dr. Fred I. Goldstein, Senior Broker
1-800-BUY-COIN
FiGoldstein@swissamerica.com
----------------------------------------------------
HOW TO HELP GATA
If you benefit from GATA's dispatches, please
consider making a financial contribution to
GATA. We welcome contributions as follows.
By check:
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
c/o Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer
7 Villa Louisa Road
Manchester, CT 06043-7541
USA
By credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and
Discover) over the Internet:
http://www.gata.org/creditcard.html
By GoldMoney:
http://www.GoldMoney.com
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Holding number 50-08-58-L
Donors of $750 or more will, upon request,
be sent a print of Alain Despert's colorful
painting symbolizing our cause, titled GATA.
Donors of $200 or more will receive a copy
of The ABCs of Gold Investing by Michael
Kosares, proprietor of Centennial Precious
Metals in Denver, Colorado.
GATA is a civil rights and educational
organization under the U.S. Internal Revenue
Code and contributions to it are tax-deductible
in the United States.
