Indonesia's government will seek independent appraisal on the value of the stake it plans to buy in Newmont Mining Corp.'s (NEM) local unit and hopes to determine the value of the stake next month, the mines minister said Friday.

"There is a difference in the values (determined by the government and Newmont) of about IDR5 trillion, so it is best to seek independent appraisal, and we will hope to have the result in July," Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters. He didn't elaborate further.

The government plans to buy a 21% stake in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara by next year. Newmont has said the company is worth $4.9 billion. But the government has said it is worth less than $4 billion. Neither have yet revealed what they consider the 21% stake to be worth.

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