Illegal mining hard to preven: Antam
Illegal mining hard to preven: Antam
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
A director of publicly listed gold and nickel miner PT Aneka
Tambang (Antam), which runs the Pongkor Mountain gold mine in
Nanggung district, Bogor, revealed that at least 257 illegal gold
miners had died in accidents at the site in the last seven years.
"It is hard to stop the illegal gold miners because their
bosses are local figures," director of the business unit at the
mine Iwan Irawan told a public presentation on Antam's community
development program on Tuesday.
He added that most of the deceased were not locals but
recruited by leaders of Nanggung residents.
"I acknowledge that these people have great charisma ... their
words are treated like commands by the people. I think they are
the ones whom we should approach to take part in the community
development program in order to eliminate illegal gold mining."
Earlier this month, 13 illegal gold miners were asphyxiated
inside a shaft they had dug themselves to connect with the Antam
mine. The police are still investigating the cause of the smoke,
following reports that some people intentionally burned tires to
shoo away the illegal gold miners.
Since the start of exploitation at the gold mine in 1994, at
least 141 illegal gold miners were killed in landslides in 1998,
58 others in 1999, 16 in 2000, 14 in 2001, 11 in 2002, and four
last year.
Iwan said the company realized that their presence in the area
had changed locals' livelihoods from farming to gold digging, in
the hope of making a quick fortune.
"They have led consumer-driven lifestyles ever since," he
said, adding that the company had given financial aid to develop
education and build mosques, as well capital for locals at 10
villages in Nanggung district to open their own businesses.
Although initial field surveys estimated that the gold and
silver deposits in Pongkor Mountain were enough for 40 years of
supply, Iwan said Antam would leave in 2015 because the deposits
would have run out.
In the early years of operation between 1994 and 2000, the
company took out up to 2 tons of gold per year. Since 2000, the
company has taken out up to 5 tons per year, exhausting the
mine's deposits of 50 tons of gold and 400 tons of silver.
The company also revealed the losses it suffered from halting
operations for 10 days while evacuating the 13 trapped victims
from March 3 to March 13.
"Per day, we should get 10 kilograms of gold, worth Rp 850
million (US$100,000)," Iwan Irawan said.