T

he Jambi administration will block fuel supplies for heavy equipment being used in illegal gold mining activities in the province in order to put an end to the business.

Jambi Governor Zumi Zola said the effort to end illegal mining would need commitment from the provincial and regency administrations.

“This is a hard task. It needs commitment from all law enforcers,” Zola said at a coordinating meeting to counter illegal mining activities in the province on Thursday.

The governor said stopping the illegal mining activities was a complicated problem especially as the activities involved dozens of pieces of heavy equipment in several regencies.

He suspected security force personnel of being behind the illegal mining. For this reason, the provincial administration had set up a task force led by the deputy Jambi Police chief Sr. Comr. Nugroho Aji Wijayanto.

As part of the effort to counter illegal mining activities, the provincial administration will offer miners alternative sources of income from agriculture by providing them with coffee, rubber and oil palm seeds as well as opening more land for cultivation.