Illegal miners descend on KEM's mining sites
Saturday, April 14 2001 - 07:00 AM WIB
Thousands of illegal gold miners today surround mining areas in West Kutai, Central Kalimantan, which are under the jurisdiction of PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM).
Antara reported from Kutai Friday, that the illegal miners who are from Central Kalimantan as well as South Sulawesi, have already constructed provisional shelters just 7 meters from the headquarters of
PT KEM.
PT KEM is a unit of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.
Their presence will certainly cause problems for the gold mining company, because undesirables can easily enter the company's headquarters and steal valuable goods including mining equipment.
The company has reported the problem to the Central Kalimantan government but is unlikely to receive a response.
The local government has in fact issued a regulation that locals are allowed to mine gold at any point at least 50 meters far from PT KEM's mining sites.
The permit which is an attempt to better the economic conditions of locals, has instead been overshadowed by serious problems relating to environmental pollution and social disturbance.
Illegal miners together operate around 55 pumping machines, that create massive holes, where several workers have fallen in and died. Sand, stones, mud as well as mercury, used to extract gold from gold ore, are dumped into the Kelian River causing serious pollution.
The problem of illegal gold miners operating on the mining sites belonging to official companies is prevalent in many parts of Indonesia, including in Bogor, Minahasa, and West Nusa Tenggara. (*)