Government prepares rules for community mining in Nabire
Nabire (ANTARA) — The government is preparing rules to accommodate community mining in Nabire Regency, Central Papua, while continuing to act against illegal activities and breaches of environmental protection requirements.
Attorney-General Sanitiar Burhanuddin, speaking in Nabire on Thursday, urged people who have been mining to respond sensibly to the enforcement of forest-area rules, saying the policy was intended to serve the public interest.
“We will draw up regulations, and of course we will no longer overlook people who claim to be community miners but use heavy machinery,” he said.
He said the rules should take account of people who mine to meet their basic needs, without disregarding legal requirements and environmental sustainability.
The government, he said, needed to distinguish between community mining carried out to earn a livelihood and activities involving heavy machinery that do not comply with regulations.
He stressed that the unlawful use of heavy machinery would continue to be dealt with under the law. Further action against such activities falls to law-enforcement authorities, including the police.
“Natural-resource management must comply with the law, protect the environment and benefit the community,” he said.
The government hopes the future rules will provide certainty for people who meet the requirements, while preventing the use of community members’ names as a cover for mining activities that breach regulations.
The details of the rules, licensing procedures, areas that may be used and requirements for community miners have not yet been specified.
The remarks came amid an enforcement operation in forest areas, marked by the revocation of the mining business permit (IUP) held by PT Kristalin Eka Lestari.
The permit was revoked after a joint team from the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH) found mining activities that did not meet the requirements for permits to use forest areas.
The company had also failed to meet its obligations to provide reclamation guarantees and carry out reclamation as required.