Diamonds are a villager's best friend in Martapura

By Erma S. Ranik

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): Diamonds, very precious stones, are unequivocally familiar to all and Martapura in South Kalimantan is one of Indonesia's most famous diamond-producing areas. Diamonds of a comparable quality are also found in the river basin of the Landak river in Landak regency, West Kalimantan. Though less busy than Martapura, which is called the city of diamonds, this area has bright prospects for diamond prospecting.

Only in 1991 that people began prospecting diamonds, quite by chance. At that time one of the villagers of Munggu tried to pan for gold at the bank of the Landak River. To his surprise he collected diamonds instead of gold. His story soon spread far and wide and attracted more and more villagers to pan for diamonds.

Of course, not the entire river basin of the River Landak has a deposit of diamonds. This precious stone is more often discovered around Munggu, a village with its own history as the first royal seat of the Kingdom of Landak.

According to a palmyra book of the Landak Kingdom, Raden Ismahayana was the founder and first royal ruler of the Hindu Kingdom. He was the grandson of Queen Brawijaya Angkawijaya, the queen of Paseban Condong, who ruled the Majapahit Kingdom (1294 - 1478). Today, the remnants of Landak Palace and the grave of Raden Ishamayana are still well looked after in Munggu.

The diamond prospecting site is not difficult to reach. An intercity bus from Pontianak goes to Ngabang three times a day. The journey takes about three to four hours.

From Ngabang, one can proceed to Munggu either overland or by river. For overland route, one can take ojek, a motorcycle taxi that will cost about Rp 50,000 and take about 45 minutes.

Although the journey is brief enough, it is not comfortable because of the hilly roads and the deep ravines.

A boat with an outboard engine from Ngabang will allow one to relax. It will cost about Rp 200,000 but for the next one and a half hours one can savor the scenery along the basin of the Landak River before finally arriving in Munggu.

Diamond mining in Munggu is a small-holder mining activity conducted traditionally. During the mining process, the diamond prospectors work in groups, each comprising of five to 10 persons.

Before the mining starts, the miners must first find a suitable location, something which can be done when the water in the Landak river ebbs.

"At high tide, it's difficult because the Landak River is almost 30 meters deep," said Mahmud, one of the diamond miners.

Therefore, diamond mining is difficult to do in the wet season. So the miners move along the Landak River in two boats with outboard engines. Then, at a certain point, some of them dive into the river to determine the exact position for mining. To help them breathe while diving they use a compressor, which is usually used to fill a tire with air.

Whether or not there will be diamonds depends if the divers can find fist-sized gravel on the river bed. "The more such gravel is found, the bigger the diamond deposits will be," said Mahmud. Once they know there are diamonds at a particular site, a sucking process using a machine known among the miners as Dong Feng -- due to the brandname, begins. The sand is then taken to the river bank. This sucking continues until the miners thing the quantity of sand collected is sufficient.

The miners alternate between sand sucking with diamond panning. During the course of a week, for example, they spend three days sucking sand and spend the remaining days panning for diamonds.

Diamond panning is conducted in a simple way and does not contaminate the river as no chemicals are used. The diamond panners shake their wooden pans to separate the diamonds from the sand and when it is completed, the sand is dumped back into the river.

According to Syarifudin, the head of a group of diamond miners, diamond-prospecting groups collect diamonds every day.

"The Landak River has quite a large deposit of diamonds," he said. Usually the miners discover small diamonds about half to one carat. Sometimes, they also found diamonds of bigger carats. When this writer visited this site, a miner had just discovered a diamond the size of a baby's little finger.

When they first conducted diamond mining, locals used to perform a Melayu rite at the former Landak Palace to ask for blessings from their ancestors. But they no longer perform this rite. "Too troublesome and quite a bother," Syarifudin said.

But there is still a unique tradition among the miners. Every time each of them comes across a diamond, they put it into an old hair oil glass bottle. Inside, there are three pieces of black river gravel which serve as a bait for the diamond. "This means we hope to get more diamonds," said Junai, a miner.

The miners, all locals, work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Their daily output is collected by their group leader and is sold at least after a week.

Buyers usually come to the mining site, but frequently the miners themselves take their diamonds to Ngabang and Pontianak, where they sell them at higher prices. The price of diamonds is quite stable. When the price of gold soared following the catapulting of the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the rupiah, the price of diamonds did not change much.

Most diamonds found in the River Landak have a silver color. According to Junai, someone once discovered an emerald at the diamond prospecting site. The quality of the diamonds are comparable to the diamonds found in Martapura. Diamond is sold in accordance to its carat, but he refused to name any prices. "It depends on the agreement between a buyer and a miner."

A diamond miner earns a reasonable amount. Each person in a group can earn a minimum of Rp 25,000 a day. They earn more if they collect larger quantities of diamonds. Syarifudin's group, for example, sold diamonds worth Rp 90 million in 1993, the result of two weeks' work.

Diamond mining has changed the lives of the people. "At that time houses with roofs made of leaves and walls made of card board were a common sight," Syarifudin said.

Munggu, a village with 70 families, now boasts dozens of permanent houses. To the locals, electronics goods such as television sets, refrigerators, satellite disk and video compact disc players are no longer luxury items.