JAKARTA - An accident at Newmont Indonesia, a unit of Newmont Mining, will not affect production despite temporary suspension of operations, a senior official at Indonesia's mines and energy ministry said on Tuesday.

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) said on Monday a rock-slide occured in the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Sumbawa island, eastern Indonesia, on Sunday and buried a dozer operator who was working at the site.

"The accident will not affect production because Newmont has enough stocks," Bambang Setiawan, director general of coal, minerals and geothermal at the mines and energy ministry, told Reuters.

"We have sent an investigation team to the field to check (the accident)," he added.

In September 2009, PT NNT had also temporarily suspended operations because of a rock-slide at one of the pit's walls, but no fatality was reported at that time.

Mine output from PT NNT was already forecast to fall by 1,5% to 2% annually for the next five years after problems at the mine, according to the energy and mines ministry in October last year.

Before the accident in September, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara had expected the mine to produce 500-million pounds of copper concentrate and 525,000 ounces of gold in 2009.

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