WHEN THE New York Times broke the story in September, 2004, it seemed like an open-and-shut case: Ever since Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, had opened a mine in the Indonesian fishing village of Buyat Bay, villagers had complained of rashes, dizziness, and other mysterious symptoms. Finally, after Masna Stirman’s deformed six-month-old daughter died in July 2004, the Indonesian National Police released a report showing that Newmont’s method of waste disposal, known in the mining industry as submarine tailing, had polluted the waters of Buyat Bay with mercury and arsenic. On the surface, it was just another case of a multinational corporation taking advantage of the lax operating practices in a poor country.