Govt calls for temporary closure of gold mine near Komodo National Park

The Ministry for Environmental Affairs has called for a temporary closure of a gold mine located near the Komodo National Park in Batugosok, Manggarai Barat regency, East Nusa Tenggara province, Kompas reported Wednesday.

Speaking in Jakarta on Tuesday, State Minister for Environmental Affairs Rachmat Witoelar said that the gold mining activities in the area should be temporarily stopped because they would sooner or later spark a "horizontal conflict" to the Komodo National Park.

Besides posing a serious problem to the national park, the gold mining activities in the Batogosok area were carried without the required preliminary study on the possible impact of the mining activities on the environment, he said.

?According to existing regulations, a preliminary study on its possible impact on environment should be first carried out before exploration activities are carried out,? he said. The opening of the mining activities was also against the local government?s existing master plan which had designated the area for tourism development, he said.

Meanwhile the Director General for the Protection of Forest Conservation Area at the forestry ministry, Darori, said that his office would ask the local government to review the permit of the mining activities in the Batugosok area because of its serious impact on the environment. (*)