governmental organizations (NGOs), have also launched a 543-million-dollar civil suit against Newmont. When the claims were first made in July, a report said 30 people had died of Minamata disease, a neurological illness named after a Japanese bay where an outbreak struck in the 1950s. Tests conducted by Newmont and by independent agencies such as World Health Organization (WHO) and CSIRO found no evidence of contamination. However, other tests, such as those conducted by the Indonesian police, have proved positive. Charges of breaching environmental rules carry jail terms of up to 15 years in Indonesia if people are proved to have died or become seriously ill as a result of pollution.
