Unlike Nickel, Gold Resources Evenly Spread from Aceh to Papua

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The State-Owned Mining Industry Holding, MIND ID, has highlighted that gold resources are spread throughout the country, setting them apart from other minerals. MIND ID President Director Maroef Sjamsoeddin stated that gold has the potential to become a strategic asset supporting foreign exchange reserves.

Unlike other minerals such as tin and nickel, which are only found in specific areas, gold is more evenly distributed domestically. "Tin is only found in Bangka Belitung and the Riau Islands. Nickel is in Sulawesi to Maluku, but if we look at gold, Indonesia’s cross position from Aceh to Papua, all our land has gold," Maroef said at the Mindialogue 2026: Minerals for Indonesia’s Economic Stability event on Wednesday.

According to him, this makes gold resources more difficult to control. For example, in northern Kalimantan and Java, gold can be easily obtained. It is therefore important to begin discussing how to safeguard the nation’s mineral wealth and its utilisation for the homeland. "So hopefully we can formulate comprehensive cross-institutional improvement efforts for us and our grandchildren, mineral reserve governance must be from upstream to downstream," he stated.

On the same occasion, he also highlighted the vast domestic mineral wealth that has not yet been directly utilised by state-owned enterprises (BUMN). He noted that Indonesia’s mineral resources have instead been largely exploited by other parties. Some of these parties possess technological capabilities that allow them to process and utilise Indonesia’s mineral resources more optimally. "They are utilised more by other parties, and BUMN can also be easily traced, but those are BUMN with great technology, State-Owned Enterprises of Other Countries, not our BUMN," Maroef said.