ABSTRACT
Newmont Mining is the world’s largest gold producer. Its Minahasa mine on Sulawesi Island dumped arsenic, mercury, and lead – the dross of gold mining – into Buyat Bay, contaminating the bay’s fish and causing illness (see Figure 14.1). Indonesia’s environmental standards are lower than America’s, and the company’s system for disposing of tailings at Minahasa was banned in the United States by the Clean Water Act. The company denied charges that villagers’ health problems were due to arsenic poisoning, claiming that their symptoms were due to poor nutrition and inadequate sanitation. In August 2004, a legal aid group brought suit against Newmont for millions in damages. Although the Minahasa mine ceased production, the company feared that local pressure could end production at its lucrative Sumbawa mine, and officials were concerned that Indonesia would then lose significant foreign investment. In 2006, the company agreed to pay Indonesia $30 million in a “good-will agreement” to settle the lawsuit.1 In 2007, an Indonesian court acquitted the company of criminal charges partly so as not to lose Newmont’s foreign investment elsewhere in the country, and Newmont under-
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Figure 14.1 Security tape surrounds the Newmont
Mining site in Sulawesi
area and improved coral reef habitat in Buyat Bay.
