[JURIST] The regional chief executive of Newmont Mining Corporation [corporate website], an American gold-mining company with a subsidiary in Indonesia, testified Friday in his criminal pollution trial. Richard Ness [defense website], who is accused of placing arsenic and mercury into the waters of Indonesia's Buyat Bay, told the court that the "waste rock" Newmont dumped into the Bay did not exceed government-imposed limits and insisted that Newmont carefully tracked the level of pollutants the mine released. Indonesia began the criminal pollution trial [JURIST report] in August 2005, and a verdict is expected later this year.

Earlier this year, Newmont settled a civil suit [JURIST report] brought by Indonesia for $30 million shortly after Indonesia decided it would not appeal the ruling that dismissed [JURIST report] the $133 million suit [JURIST report] brought against Newmont alleging that the company polluted the area near its operation. AP has more.