Mine death hits Newcrest scrip

Newcrest's involvement in the Gosowong/Tougaraci goldmining operation on the Indonesian island of Halmahera has come under renewed scrutiny after more violent clashes at the jungle site. Newcrest shares lost 41¢ yesterday to $12.85 in the wake of the clashes.

Melbourne-based Newcrest yesterday confirmed that one man died when police fired on 150 armed people - characterised as protesters by Indonesian rights groups, and illegal miners by Newcrest - that had swarmed onto the gold property at 4am on Wednesday.

Newcrest said the incident was not one with which it wanted its operations to be associated. But as long as it could guarantee its workforce's safety, it would continue mining at the small but highly profitable operation.

The incident follows one in October when 1500 local protesters/illegal miners invaded the Tougaraci deposit after Newcrest had removed the overburden, exposing the deposit's high-grade ore shoots to easy pickings for the first time.

It took five weeks for the site to be cleared. Newcrest is now mining the deposit, with its high-grade ore being moved to the nearby Gosowong plant for treatment from next month. The operation's cash flow is useful but not critical to Newcrest.

Newcrest's general manager of corporate affairs, Peter Reeve, said the company expected a lot of mixed messages resulting from the latest incident. That is reflected in the company referring to the intruders as "illegal miners" while Indonesian non-governmental organisations refer to them as protesters and local landowners with environmental and economic concerns.

Mr Reeve said Newcrest regretted the incident "but it is really an incident now between the police and those people". He said Newcrest had been given a mandate to continue operations after the October flare-up.

About 20 activists and traditional land owners protested outside the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas-HAM), the Indonesian Government's main human rights body, in central Jakarta at midday yesterday, calling for an investigation into the incident.

"We're here because of the shooting incident towards our people; they were just trying to demand their traditional forest rights and protect the forest," said Usman Sergi, 30, of the Mining Advocacy Network, who said he was one of 6000 traditional owners from the Pagu tribes who are demanding Newcrest compensate them for their land.

Apart from the one person killed, and another injured, six people were detained by Brimob, or mobile brigade, riot police.

Six people had been taken to police headquarters in Ternate for questioning about the incident, said an officer from Brimob headquarters on Ternate island, which neighbours Halmahera.

The officer said he could not comment on why police had reportedly opened fire on demonstrators, and did not know where the injured protester was being treated.

Gosowong/Tougaraci is owned 82.5 per cent by Newcrest and 17.5 per cent by Indonesia's PT Aneka Tambang.

- with Marianne Kearney in Jakarta