Aurora loses 30.000 ounces of gold per year due to illegal mining

Australian mining firm aurora gold said it lost up to 30000 ounces of gold per year due to illegal mining activities in its contract areas in North Sulawesi. Aurora's resident manager in North Sulawesi Richard Lindsay recently told Petromindo.com that thousand of illegal miners had been operating since last year in its north Sulawesi concession, especially in the Dimembe area, where the company had found a high grade gold reserve.

The company was forced to suspend operations in the province due to troubles caused by illegal miners. "I estimate based on our observation of the number of trommels operating, their usage rate, and discussions with miners and trommels managers themselves that there are 20.000 - 30000 ounces of gold per year being illegally mined," Lindsay said.

He said Aurora had several times asked the local government to stop the illegal mining activities but thus far no concrete action had been taken by the latter.

He warned that illegal mining activities did not only cause losses on the company, but also caused pollution in the local environment due to excessive mercury waste.

Unless the government takes action the local population will face environmental disaster comparable to the tragedy which befell the people in Minamata, Japan several decades ago, Lindsay said. (Hans Bodega)