Govt to crack down on illegal gold mining<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon launch coordinated
\nefforts to crack down on illegal gold miners in West Kalimantan,
\nwhich have threatened to damage 50,000 hectares of forests,
\nMinister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The illegal gold mining operations have been conducted by big
\ncompanies and not by the local people because the activities use
\nheavy machinery, Sudjana told a hearing with the Mining and
\nEnergy Commission of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
He added that operations against the illegal miners have been
\ncoordinated with the ministry of home affairs because many of the
\nminers possess mining permits from local officials.<\/p>\n
\"Previous efforts to cope with the illegal miners have been
\nineffective because most of the miners have cooperated with local
\nofficials,\" Director General of Mines Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who
\naccompanied Sudjana at the hearing, said.<\/p>\n
He said local officials had issued gold mining permits to
\ncompanies without letters of recommendation from the directorate
\ngeneral of mines in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Gold mining contractors, who obtained their concessions from
\nthe ministry of mines and energy in Jakarta, have, over the past
\nfew months, complained about the poaching of their concession
\nareas by illegal miners.<\/p>\n
The contractors said the illegal mining has not been done by
\nlocal panners, as it has often been reported in the media, but by
\nbig companies, which use heavy equipment.<\/p>\n
\"The illegal miners have been incurring heavy damages to the
\nforests because they use heavy machinery in their operations,\"
\nKuntoro pointed out.<\/p>\n
He said illegal gold miners have also been operating in other
\nprovinces, causing heavy damages to forest resources.<\/p>\n
\"We estimate that about 10,000 hectares of forests are damaged
\nevery year because of illegal gold mining activities,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Such poaching have been most extensive in West Kalimantan,
\naccording to Kuntoro.<\/p>\n
He added that similar operations would also be launched soon
\nto crack down on illegal miners in other provinces because their
\nactivities not only hurt the legal mining contractors but also
\ndamage the forests.<\/p>\n
Tin export quota<\/p>\n
Replying to questions from House members, Kuntoro said
\nIndonesia has officially asked the Association of Tin Producing
\nCountries to abolish the tin export quota system because such a
\nmechanism is no longer in line with the free international
\ntrading system.<\/p>\n
\"We think an export quota arrangement is no longer necessary
\nin the current era of free global trade,\" he pointed out.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian request, according to Kuntoro, will be
\ndiscussed at the next meeting of the association in Bolivia, in
\nSeptember.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, a member of the association, together with seven
\nother major tin producing countries, is the world's largest tin
\nexporter with an annual output of over 35,000 tons.<\/p>\n
Under the current quota arrangement Indonesia is only allowed
\nto export 30,500 tons a year.<\/p>\n
He added, however, that Indonesia would continue to support
\nthe association as a forum of communication among the tin
\nproducers.<\/p>\n
Kuntoro conceded that abolition of the quota system might
\ncause a free-for-all competition in the market.<\/p>\n
\"But we remain committed to defending a fair price for tin
\nwhich is not too high, so as to encourage consumers to shift to
\nsubstitute materials, but not too low either as to discourage
\nproduction.\"<\/p>\n
He considered the current market quotations of US$5,000 to
\n$5,700 per ton as relatively fair.<\/p>\n
Answering another question, Kuntoro said the government would
\nno longer intervene in the production and export policies of
\nstate-owned PT Tambang Timah because of its plan to go public
\nwithin the next few months.<\/p>\n
\"The direct consequence of Tambang Timah's forthcoming initial
\npublic offering of shares is that the government will no longer
\nhave much authority to intervene in the company's daily
\noperations,\" Kuntoro added. (04\/vin)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-to-crack-down-on-illegal-gold-mining-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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