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The government says it may recruit an independent appraiser to determine the value of a stake in US-based Newmont Mining’s West Nusa Tenggara subsidiary, citing disagreement about which assets should be included.

In the asset valuation report for PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) that Newmont provided to the government, the company included four concessions outside of its main Batu Hijau copper and gold mine, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Thursday during a seminar on gas pipeline development.

Purnomo said that the government had proposed that the price of the 17 percent NNT stake only take into account Batu Hijau. The company’s proposal, however, also included its as-yet-undeveloped mines in Elang, North Lunyuk, Rinti and Teluk Panas — all in West Nusa Tenggara.

“That’s why the negotiations over Newmont’s price for the assets have come to a halt,” Purnomo said. “We need to hire an independent appraiser to evaluate the real value of the NNT stake.”

The minister said he was confident that the price dispute would be resolved before the 180-day deadline set in March by an international arbitration panel.

According to the panel’s ruling, Newmont must sell 17 percent of NNT — 3 percent for 2006, and 7 percent for both 2007 and 2008 — to the government or its designee.

“We expect that we will arrive at an agreement with Newmont in the second week of June,” he added.

Asked about Purnomo’s comments, Kasan Mulyono, Newmont’s local public relations manager, said that under a contract of work signed in 1986, NNT operates 87,540 hectares worth of concessions, including all five sites named in the recent report.

Apart from the Batu Hijau mine, all of NNT’s concessions are still technically in the exploration stage, though work at the four sites has been halted because the company has not received forest land-use permits from the government.

Kasan refused to comment further on the negotiations for the 17 percent stake in NNT.

Speaking separately to the Jakarta Globe, Forestry Ministry MS Kaban said that the land-use permit for the Elang mine was still being processed.

“We shouldn’t have to rush the issuance of the permit,” he said. “We are still evaluating Newmont’ s proposal.”

Newmont said last month that all of the West Nusa Tenggara assets held by NNT were valued at $4.9 billion, down from a 2008 valuation of $6.1 billion. In the ensuing negotiations, the government has been angling for a lower price.

Under Indonesian law, Newmont and Japan’s Sumitomo — another NNT stakeholder — are required to divest 51 percent of their shares by 2010. The foreign firms have already sold a 20 percent stake to local company PT Pukuafu Indah.