Citra Palu not to mine Poboya Park: Official

Minister of Forestry Marzuki Usman said that the government had never licensed gold mining activities inside the Poboya People's Forests in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Bisnis Indonesia daily reported on Wednesday.

"We never approved the gold mining activities inside the area of the Poboya People's Forests in Palu, Central Sulawesi," Marzuki was quoted as saying by the ministry's spokesman Koes Saparjadi.

Earlier, the head of the Forestry Ministry's Central Sulawesi office said that his office had approved the use of Poboya People's Forest area as a site for gold mining activities.

But Koes said that the statement from the head of the Central Sulawesi forestry office was not really correct.

Koes said that then forestry minister Nurmahmudi Ismail sent a letter dated March 15, 2001 to the Central Sulawesi governor, informing the latter that the Forestry Ministry could consider the change of function of forests in Central Sulawesi, as long as it is approved by the provincial legislative council.

"In this case, it needs the supports and recommendations from the Central Sulawesi Legislative Council," Koes said, adding that whenever the council did not give its approval, the Forestry Ministry would also reject the proposal to change the function of any forests in the province.

And the council has apparently voiced its opposition to the gold mining activities on the Poboya People's Forest by PT Citra Palu Mineral (CPM), a unit of Rio Tinto.

CPM, that secured central government mining license No. B-143/Pres/3/1997 dated April 28, 1998, has conducted some mining activities in its concession areas, some of which are allegedly located inside the Poboya Forest Park.

The Poboya Forest Park covers a total area of 8,1000 hectares, spreading in a number of villages in Palu, Central Sulawesi, including Poboya, Tondo and Ngata Baru. About 500 hectares of Poboya Forest Park contain gold reserves of up to 60 tons of gold ore. (*)