Ex-gold mining site badly damage
Thursday, November 16 2000 - 03:00 AM WIB
Some 40,000 ha ex-gold mining site in the Ampalit area, Kotawaringin district in Central Kalimantan is now in a very bad condition which may cause flood disaster during raining season, Kompas daily reported.
The paper said that around 12,000 illegal miners have now started to enter the primary forest to search for gold.
The paper quoted Kotawaringin Regent Wahyudi Anwar as saying that the administration was still uncertain on how to deal with the ex-mining site and the illegal miners.
He said that the primary problem was in the source of funding and the method of rehabilitation.
"Until now there has been no effective method to rehabilitate the forest. Various efforts have not been fruitful," Wahyudi said.
He added that with regards to the illegal miners, the administration was in difficulty because the miners mostly came from outside the Kotawaringin area and sending them back to their origin needed huge cost. (*)