Illegal gold prospectors risk life and limb on Pongkor

Illegal gold prospectors risk life and limb on Pongkor

Text and photos by Mulkan Samona

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Wearing boots and carrying simple
excavating implements such as chisels, hammers and crowbars,
Akhyar, Dedi, Maman and Khairul, unlicensed gold prospectors
hailing from Tasikmalaya, left Jangkar village for Pongkor hill
in search of gold. Slowly and carefully they found their way
along the slippery, winding trail leading to the hill.

Ignoring their fatigue, they walked with great care along the
trail, which in some parts was very steep, descending in some
spots and ascending in others. The going got tougher, with the
trail becoming all the more slippery and muddier the further they
trudged along. Without great care, they could have easily slipped
and fallen. The trail leading to Pongkor hill was muddy from
hundreds of people making their way to the hill.

After about one hour's walk, they were soaked with
perspiration and their faces clearly reflected fatigue. They
decided to take a brief rest at one of the many stalls in the
area. In the meantime, from the opposite direction, scores of
laborers were coming down the hill. Carrying slabs of rock
containing gold, they hurriedly found their way along the
slippery trail, stepping with great agility right and left, never
once missing a step, as if their soles had glue on them. Many of
them were barefoot.

People going up and down Pongkor hill has become an everyday
sight. From morning through night, people traverse the trail
leading to the hill.

After a few minutes' rest, Akhyar and his mates resumed their
journey to the hill. They continued to picked their way along it
slowly. In some parts they had to stop because their boots sank
deep into mud.

They made their way along the trail for three hours,
struggling through slippery mud, before finally reaching the foot
of Pongkor hill. Many pits have been excavated on this sloping
area by unlicensed gold diggers searching for gold.

Akhyar, his mates and many others gathered around the edges of
the pits. Some were waiting for rock slabs, dug up by their mates
in the pits, to be sent to the surface for collection. Others
were negotiating with people controlling the pits for further
excavation. A few others sat idly waiting for capital owners in
need of their services to contact them.

Indeed, many people earn a living in this illegal gold mining
area. Some get paid for descending into the pits to ascertain
which have worthwhile gold deposits. A person doing this job must
be able to determine whether there is gold in the rock and be
skillful at chiseling away rock. Besides, he must also be able to
breathe at a depth of scores of meters without an oxygen tank.
This person determines whether the gold prospecting will be
successful or not.

There are also laborers used for hauling. They are always
ready with their bamboo bag-clamping tools, which are very
helpful when lifting bags containing gold. They patiently wait
for capital owners to call them to conduct these illegal gold
mining activities.

Another group depending on this illegal gold prospecting area
for a source of income are vendors. They set up tents on the
slopes of the hill, which is quite dangerous due to the risk of
landslides and cave-ins, in which case the tents would tumble
down in a matter of seconds. One vendor was killed in a landslide
a while back, and despite this the vendors returned to the site
and set up shop again.

In view of the risk entailed and because of the difficulty in
carrying wares along the trail to the hill, the vendors usually
sell there merchandise at up to 200 percent more than the normal
rate. Generally they hire laborers to haul their wares to the
stalls on the hill slopes. The prices may be even higher if the
stalls are attended by young, pretty ladies.

When I first saw people flocking to Pongkor hill to earn a
living, I thought they were locals. However, after talking with
some of them, I learned they came from various regions, such as
Bogor, Sukabumi, Tasikmalaya, Garut, Banten, Cianjur, Jakarta and
Lampung.

I was told that illegal gold prospecting on Pongkor hill did
not begin until late 1998 when state mining company PT Aneka
Tambang, which began exploration work in the area in 1992, began
hiring local people to do the work. It was around this time that
the people around Pongkor, mostly farmers, learned that Pongkor
hill held gold deposits. Hence, illegal gold prospecting began.

Over time more and more people, including those from outside
the Pongkor area, have joined the ranks of illegal gold
prospectors. Now that the country is in a deep recession,
resulting in a lot of layoffs, more and more people have
understandably been lured to Pongkor hill to illegally excavate
for gold.

As a result of this illegal activity, PT Aneka Tambang has
been hampered in its exploration activities in the area. Illegal
gold prospectors have dug deep holes in the work sites of PT
Aneka Tambang, and its facilities and infrastructure such as
pipelines, pumps, water pools, electricity cables, have
frequently been damaged.

The worst incident to have happened to the state mining
company occurred a few months ago when illegal prospectors,
having been incited by a rumor that an illegal gold prospector
had been shot dead by the firm's security guards, ran amok and
destroyed the company's office. As a result, the employees of PT
Aneka Tambang now feel uneasy working in the area because they
fear that PT Aneka Tambang is no longer respected as the legal
owner of the prospecting and mining rights in the area.

In fact, rife illegal gold prospecting in Pongkor is having a
more alarming consequence, namely environmental damage. Illegal
gold prospectors usually use mercury to extract gold ore. It is
known that mercury, the waste of which is simply dumped into the
Cikaniki and Cisadane river basins, is difficult to recycle.

Besides, the area where the illegal gold prospecting takes
place is located within Mount Halimun National Park, an area
where people are not allowed to enter freely and where gold
prospecting and similar activities are prohibited. So, if illegal
gold prospecting is allowed to go on, there will be serious
damage done to the environment -- particularly to the Cikaniki
and Cisadane river basins -- and to the health of the community
living in this area.

It seems, therefore, that the government must, in a manner
that reflects great wisdom and which is acceptable to the local
community, immediately bring an end to these illegal gold
prospecting activities to ensure that the area's environment is
preserved.