Government Pushes for Advanced Gold Mine Exploration

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) is urging gold mining companies to carry out advanced exploration within their concession areas. This is to ensure the mapping of national gold reserves and to guarantee production sustainability amid the commodity’s high foreign exchange value.

Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of ESDM, Tri Winarno, explained that companies are now bound by mandatory regulations to explore the entire land area they hold. He stressed that the integration of resource and reserve data is crucial for strengthening Indonesia’s gold mining sector.

“Regarding resources and reserves, it is actually already regulated that companies are mandatory to conduct advanced exploration if they have not fully explored their area,” he said at the Mindialogue 2026: Minerals for Indonesia’s Economic Stability event in Jakarta, Wednesday (12/8/2026).

He stated that companies which have only explored a small portion of their concession are required to continue the search for reserves in the next period. The government wants to optimise Indonesia’s gold treasure, whose reserves are estimated to reach 3,600 tonnes but have only been produced in small quantities.

“So they must do it. If, say, they have 1,000 hectares and have only explored 100, then in the following period they must carry out advanced exploration to find or continue their exploration,” he asserted.

In addition to land regulation factors, the ministry is also pushing for the standardisation of human resources with a specific classification of experts or competent persons in the gold mining sector. The involvement of professional human resources is deemed crucial so that reserve calculations in licensing documents match the actual conditions in the field.

“Perhaps what needs to be encouraged is investment in exploration in the gold sector. Permits for those who calculate reserves must also be competent persons,” he concluded.