'Diggers' not miners

Your article (April 16, 1997) on Gold mining could lead into serious misunderstanding and humiliation of the mining profession and industry at large.

The so-called "miners" in the article would better qualify as "diggers", or better yet, "garimpieros" (did I spell that correctly?), compared to the many illegal mining activities in Brazil.

The real mining profession should be environmentally oriented and friendly. Illegal mining activities have been considered as a threat to the legal mining community. The Ministry of Mines has done what it can to try to ban illegal mining, but some are protected and tolerated by the local government and sometimes even the press.

The article, in essence, is very good but the respectable (mining) community feels that it was humiliated.

I suggest you use "diggers" rather than "miners" in your article.

B.N. WAHJU

Secretary-General

Indonesian Mining Association

Jakarta