NGOs urge Australian firm to stop mining in Halmahera

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Coalition Against Forests for Mining and representatives of about 5,000 Kao and Malifut tribespeople of Halmahera island in North Maluku are demanding Australian company PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals (NHM) to immediately stop its open-pit mining in the protected forest of Toguraci.

The coalition, which includes environmental NGOs such as the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), also demanded that PT NHM restore the 52 hectares of already destroyed forest area in Toguraci, and its now-depleted 32-hectare Gosowong site.

"The company's mining operations violates not only Law No. 41/2003 on forestry which bans mining in protected forest areas, but also the ancestral rights of local tribespeople," Jatam's national coordinator Siti Maimunah said on Tuesday.

As revealed by Jhon Djinimangele, a representative of the tribespeople, many locals have been intimidated and denied access to forest areas located near PT NHM's self-claimed site by soldiers and policemen hired by the company.

"We can no longer make a living by collecting fish and shrimp from the forest's rivers, as we now fear that they have been polluted by the company's waste," Jhon said, adding that he knew of one local who was still suffering from burns after bathing in one of the rivers, that they suspect has been polluted.

The lack of benefits of the company's presence for local community development was also denounced by Ikono Djambak, another representative who once worked for PT NHM. Ikono complained that the company had done virtually nothing in the way of providing facilities such as schools or health clinics.

Surprisingly, the reasoning used to get a special operating permit on May 9 from the Ministry of Forestry was to prevent lay- offs, so they could continue and even expand mining operations in the protected forest of Toguraci, as its Gosowong site which was opened in 1992 has been depleted.

The Toguraci site is estimated to contain 360,000 ounces of gold reserves.

The permit, signed by Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa, was even augmented by a similar permit issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, dated May 22 and signed by the ministry's secretary general Djoko Darmono.

PT NHM, however, has continued its mining operations even to this day.

State-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang owns 17.5 percent of the PT NHM's shares.