Illegal gold miners return to IMK mining site

Hundreds of illegal miners have returned to the mining site of gold mining company PT Indo Muro Kencana (IMK) in North Barito regency, Central Kalimantan, the local Kapos daily reported on Wednesday.

The paper said that the illegal miners returned to the site despite the massive curbing against illegal mining activity in June last year by a joint team of local administration and military.

IMK, a joint venture company withy Australia, has a 30 years mining contract over nearly 50,000 ha of mining site.

The paper quoted local administration officials as saying that the curbing of illegal mining activity was difficult because the miners had to do it to meet daily needs of their families. (*)