Mining investors in North Sulawesi halt activity due to massive illegal mining
Wednesday, November 22 2000 - 03:30 AM WIB
Mining investors which have obtained mining contract from the government have halted their investment activity in North Sulawesi particularly due to the massive numbers of illegal miners in the province, the head of the local office of the ministry of mining resources and energy W. Tambunan said.
Tambunan said that this problem had not been resolved yet.
Tambunan was quoted as saying by the local Manado Post daily that the numbers of illegal miners in the province was huge ranging between 5,000-10,000 per day in various locations.
He said that the illegal mining problem was difficult to resolve.
He said that in addition to the impact to local mining investment climate, the illegal mining activity had also caused serious environmental problem because of the hazardous mercury material the illegal miners used in processing their gold find. (*)