NTB Provincial Government and Lombok Barat Regency Pass the Buck on Suspected Resurgence of Illegal Mining
Head of the Environment Agency (DLH) of West Lombok (Lobar), M Busyairi, has responded to the request from the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Government (Pemprov NTB) regarding monitoring the site of an illegal gold mine located in the Sekotong forest area.
According to him, monitoring or supervision of the forest area remains the authority of Pemprov NTB to date, not the Lombok Barat Regency Government (Pemkab).
“If it’s a forest area, that’s the province’s authority,” he stated on Wednesday (1/4/2026).
Busyairi even requested the Energy and Mineral Resources Agency (ESDM) to conduct direct monitoring of the illegal mining activities.
“Let them monitor it; if there’s any mistake or activity in the forest area that’s not compliant, just stop it—that’s their authority. Don’t just tell us to monitor without giving us any power,” he emphasised.
He also claimed not to have received a letter from Pemprov NTB regarding the supervision or monitoring of illegal mining activities in the Sekotong forest area. “We haven’t seen the handover letter yet, so how are we supposed to conduct monitoring,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Specific Criminal Unit (Tipidter) of the West Lombok Police Resort checked the location of the illegal gold mine in Sekotong, suspected to have resumed operations, on Tuesday (31/3). The results showed that the police claimed no recent mining activities were found at the site.
“The team only found remnants of infrastructure in the form of abandoned leaching ponds. Based on physical analysis at the site, those ponds have definitely not been used for a long time and show no signs of recent operations,” said the Chief of West Lombok Police, AKBP Yasmara Harahap, on Wednesday (1/4/2026).
Yasmara stated that the inspection was conducted thoroughly in the Bukit Lendak Bare area, Bunut Kantor Hamlet, Blongas Preparation Village, Sekotong Subdistrict, West Lombok Regency.
“The location is geographically within the Limited Production Forest (HPT) area, which administratively falls under the Mining Business Licence (IUP) of PT Indotan Lombok Barat Bangkit,” he explained.
Although no activities were found, the police still installed police lines around the leaching pond area as a precautionary measure.
“As a precautionary step and to maintain the status quo, personnel reinstalled police lines around the leaching pond location,” he emphasised.
Previously, the illegal gold mine in Bukit Lendak Bare, Buwun Mas Village, Sekotong Subdistrict, which was sealed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) team on 4 October 2024, was suspected to have become active again.
In a 21-second video received by detikBali, several residents were seen engaging in mining activities at the former mine site that had been sealed by the KPK. Some miners were actively suctioning rock material extracted into gold ore.
Head of the Energy and Mineral Resources Agency (ESDM) of NTB Province, Samsudin, said he had seen the video of mining activities at the former illegal gold mine sealed by the KPK. According to him, such illegal mining activities are difficult to prevent.
“That’s the realm of law enforcement authorities. We’ve already coordinated with West Lombok Regency to monitor it,” he said on Monday (30/3/2026).
If the area is in a forest zone, Samsudin stated that he would ask the local Environment Agency to conduct monitoring to prevent the illegal gold mining activities from spreading. “We’re asking for it to be checked; don’t let it spread—at least it should be monitored,” he said.