The Indonesian government estimates the value of the local unit of Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) in which it plans to buy a stake at less than $4 billion, a senior mining official said Tuesday.

Bambang Setiawan, director general for mineral resources at the Department of Mines and Energy, told reporters he can't yet reveal the exact price at which the government has valued PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, or PTNNT.

Under its contract of work with the Indonesian government to develop the Batu Hijau copper mine run by PTNNT, Newmont is scheduled to divest in stages 51% of PTNNT to Indonesian buyers by 2010.

Newmont failed to meet deadlines to divest 3% of PTNNT in 2006, and 7% of the company due to be sold in both 2007 and last year.

An international arbitration panel on March 31 gave Newmont a 180-day deadline to sell the stakes.

Newmont has said PTNNT's assets are worth $4.9 billion as of this year.

-By Deden Sudrajat, Dow Jones Newswires; 62 21 3983 1277; Reuben.Carder@dowjones.com