RI may become Asia's largest gold producer

JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Mining of the Ministry of Mines and Energy Adjat Sudradjat said yesterday that Indonesia has the potential to become Asia's largest gold producer.

In his inaugural speech as a professor at Bandung's University of Padjadjaran, Adjat based his optimistic outlook on Indonesia's rich gold resources, political stability and favorable mining policy.

Adjat said the latest volcanological studies indicated that the making of volcanoes could simultaneously create mineral resources within the volcanic areas.

Based on such a view, Indonesia, which is home to at least 129 active volcanoes and 500 dormant ones, could be quite rich in gold reserves, he said.

According to the World Gold Council's latest data, Indonesia produces 70 tons of gold per year, below China's yearly output of 100 tons.

Adjat said experts speculated that gold resources could be newly discovered soon in 15 volcanic arcs, but thus far studies only found mineral resources in seven of them.

The seven potentially gold-rich volcanic arcs include the Sunda-Banda arc (4,000 km), the Sumatra-Meratus arc (3,000 km), the Central Kalimantan arc (1,500 km), the North Sulawesi arc (1,500 km), the Irian Jaya arc (1,200 km).

"Thus, the total area which have potential (mineral resources) cover between 600,000 to 1.5 million kilometers or 10 percent to 30 percent of Indonesia's total land territory," Adjat said.

He said studies on Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes are already available for mining investors to locate minerals they want to explore.

Adjat said investors could also start exploration on the base of the systematic geologic map completed by the Indonesian Government in 1996, which covered the entire territory of Indonesia in a scale of 1:100,000 and 1:250,000. (jsk)