Bungo, Merangin polluted with mercury from illegal gold mining

Thousands of children in the areas of illegal gold mining activities in Bungo and Merangin districts in Jambi are in danger of becoming idiot because they consume mercury-polluted river water, according to an official at the Jambi's Energy and Mineral Resources office, Amir Rusdi.

Amir, a mining undergraduate and a graduate on environment, said that the illegal gold mining activities had also endangered the health of local people in general because of their reckless operation could cause various diseases, especially lung disease and TBC.

He noted that illegal miners use dangerous chemical to cleanse their gold ores, and this chemical flowed to nearby rivers and thereby polluted the rivers. In addition, they transported their gold ores using trucks plying village roads, and this caused unbearable noise and dust. Besides, such illegal gold mining activities had made farming lands less fertile.

Meanwhile, the head of Jambi's mining office, Ir. Rachman, said illegal mining activities in both districts benefit nobody in the areas. Local people and local administrations got nothing from such illegal activities. The miners did not pay various taxes, such as land and building taxes and moreover value added taxes.

He said illegal miners, mostly coming from Java, used hundreds of heavy equipment to support their operation. They cooperated with a number of local strong people to back up their operations. And this made it difficult for local administrations to stop their operations. (*)