Govt to crack down on illegal gold mining
JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon launch coordinated efforts to crack down on illegal gold miners in West Kalimantan, which have threatened to damage 50,000 hectares of forests, Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana said yesterday.
The illegal gold mining operations have been conducted by big companies and not by the local people because the activities use heavy machinery, Sudjana told a hearing with the Mining and Energy Commission of the House of Representatives.
He added that operations against the illegal miners have been coordinated with the ministry of home affairs because many of the miners possess mining permits from local officials.
"Previous efforts to cope with the illegal miners have been ineffective because most of the miners have cooperated with local officials," Director General of Mines Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who accompanied Sudjana at the hearing, said.
He said local officials had issued gold mining permits to companies without letters of recommendation from the directorate general of mines in Jakarta.
Gold mining contractors, who obtained their concessions from the ministry of mines and energy in Jakarta, have, over the past few months, complained about the poaching of their concession areas by illegal miners.
The contractors said the illegal mining has not been done by local panners, as it has often been reported in the media, but by big companies, which use heavy equipment.
"The illegal miners have been incurring heavy damages to the forests because they use heavy machinery in their operations," Kuntoro pointed out.
He said illegal gold miners have also been operating in other provinces, causing heavy damages to forest resources.
"We estimate that about 10,000 hectares of forests are damaged every year because of illegal gold mining activities," he said.
Such poaching have been most extensive in West Kalimantan, according to Kuntoro.
He added that similar operations would also be launched soon to crack down on illegal miners in other provinces because their activities not only hurt the legal mining contractors but also damage the forests.
Tin export quota
Replying to questions from House members, Kuntoro said Indonesia has officially asked the Association of Tin Producing Countries to abolish the tin export quota system because such a mechanism is no longer in line with the free international trading system.
"We think an export quota arrangement is no longer necessary in the current era of free global trade," he pointed out.
The Indonesian request, according to Kuntoro, will be discussed at the next meeting of the association in Bolivia, in September.
Indonesia, a member of the association, together with seven other major tin producing countries, is the world's largest tin exporter with an annual output of over 35,000 tons.
Under the current quota arrangement Indonesia is only allowed to export 30,500 tons a year.
He added, however, that Indonesia would continue to support the association as a forum of communication among the tin producers.
Kuntoro conceded that abolition of the quota system might cause a free-for-all competition in the market.
"But we remain committed to defending a fair price for tin which is not too high, so as to encourage consumers to shift to substitute materials, but not too low either as to discourage production."
He considered the current market quotations of US$5,000 to $5,700 per ton as relatively fair.
Answering another question, Kuntoro said the government would no longer intervene in the production and export policies of state-owned PT Tambang Timah because of its plan to go public within the next few months.
"The direct consequence of Tambang Timah's forthcoming initial public offering of shares is that the government will no longer have much authority to intervene in the company's daily operations," Kuntoro added. (04/vin)