West Sumatra gold mining

West Sumatra gold mining

JAKARTA (JP): Four mining companies which commenced
explorations in West Sumatra in 1997 were yet to report any
significant discoveries, head of the provincial office of the
Ministry of Mines and Energy Syamsurizal Syafei told Antara on
Tuesday

"Heavy rain in the past several months made exploration work
very difficult," Syafei said from Padang.

However, Syafei acknowledged that three years of exploration
work were generally needed before results could be obtained.

Exploration work usually encompasses preliminary surveys and
excavation of gold ore samples from jungle and river bank sites,
Syafei said.

The foreign companies, which together hold gold mining
concessions of 1.3 million hectares in West Sumatra, comprise PT
Prima Barisan Mining (the Netherlands), PT Nukris Sumatera
Mineral (Singapore), PT Solok Mas (Australia) and PT Ingold
Sumatera (Canada). (06)