South Kalimantan top officials invited to Australia
Monday, May 21 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
South Kalimantan Governor Sjachriel Darham and several top councilors have been invited by gold mining companies PT Meratus Sumber Mas (MSM) and PT Pelsart Tambang Kencana (PTK) to go to Australia to see for themselves the gold mining operation there.
"We have offered the Governor and related councilors to go to Australia to see the gold mining procedure from exploration stage until exploitation stage," MSM spokesman Suko Rahmanto told the local Banjarmasin Post at the weekend.
He said that the visit would help the local top officials to explain to the public about gold mining operation in Australia.
MSM and PTK are partly owned by gold mining giant Placer Dome Inc. The two companies are planning to extend their exploration licenses in the Mount Meratus area in South Kalimantan which would expire in August 2001. The two had earlier said that they need another 4 years until 2005 for exploration stage. But the plan had been protested by local environmental watchdogs, accusing that the mining exploration would damage the local forest and environment.
Suko explained that the condition in the Mount Meratus area was difficult, causing the mining companies to be unable to complete the exploration work quickly.
He said that the mining companies started exploration activity in 1994, and extended the license for the first time in 1997. He said that during the past four years, according to the sample obtained, the gold content had never reached the 3-gram acceptable level. "Ideally, every one ton of sample, it should contain at least 3 gram of gold."
But Suko was quick to say that it did not mean that the gold mining operation was a total failure, pointing out that the sample taken so far had not covered all part of the mining areas.
He also said that there was an incident in 1998 during the downfall of former president Soeharto, when the company's gold sample was looted following rumors that MSM was owned by Soeharto.(*)