Gold mining contractors threaten to withdraw

JAKARTA (JP): Four Australian gold mining contractors are threatening to relinquish their concessions in West Kalimantan because illegal miners are trespassing on their operations.

The Director General of General Mining at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, said yesterday after a hearing with the Manufacturing, Mining and Energy Commission of the House of Representatives that three of the four companies are PT Montrado, PT Aluvial Jaya and PT Istara.

He said he did not remember the name of the fourth contractor.

He said PT Montrado has begun production development, while the other three are still in the exploration stage.

"They cannot continue their operations because their concession areas have been tapped by illegal miners," Kuntoro said.

He called the problem of illegal miners in West Kalimantan "very serious".

Unauthorized prospector also have been disturbing gold mining contractors in Central Kalimantan and North Sulawesi. "We have received many complaints from gold mining companies in these provinces," he added.

Kuntoro said that a lack of coordination among related government agencies is hindering efforts to solve the problem of illegal miners.

"It's a cross-sectoral problem. So, we cannot solve it by ourselves without the involvement of local government agencies and the ministries of forestry, transmigration and environment," Kuntoro said.

Coordination

"It is time for the government to coordinate efforts to cope with the problem of illegal gold miners once and for all," Kuntoro said.

Members of the commission asked the government to be careful in handling the unauthorized gold prospectors because the distinction between illegal miners and traditional miners is not very clear.

"It's all right to evict illegal miners, but be sure that the local traditional miners will be protected," Sunaryo Hadade said. "If the areas tapped by traditional gold miners are given to foreign contractors, the government should pay adequate compensation to these local people."

Responding to Sunaryo's suggestion, Kuntoro said illegal gold mining was done not by the local people, but by migrants who brought in money and technology.

"It's all right for them to do mining as long as they do it legally. Even for traditional miners, we encourage modernizing their mining systems. And when they have become small-scale miners, they have to be legalized as well," Kuntoro said.

Kuntoro said that of the 110 gold mining contracts awarded to joint venture companies in the early 1980s, only 50 are still operating. The others have abandoned their concessions because of unprofitable deposits. (rid)