TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Mining accident tip of iceberg
A mining accident that has killed seven miners and trapped at least 33 others at an unauthorized gold mine in Bolaang Mongondow regency, North Sulawesi, is merely the tip of the iceberg of rampant unlicensed mining practices across the country
Change Size
A
span>A mining accident that has killed seven miners and trapped at least 33 others at an unauthorized gold mine in Bolaang Mongondow regency, North Sulawesi, is merely the tip of the iceberg of rampant unlicensed mining practices across the country.
On Tuesday evening, a landslide occurred in Bakan village, located around five hours’ drive from the provincial capital of Manado, when the mine’s supporting beams and planks collapsed as a result of unstable soil. The incident initially trapped around 60 workers.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry was the first to confirm the status of the mining site, calling the mine “illegal”. This was later echoed by gold mining company PT J Resources Asia Pasifik, which also confirmed that the accident had occurred on a land plot within their concession area.
“The unauthorized mining site is located outside our company operations site, and the land is still owned by individuals,” company director Edi Permadi said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the company had learned about the unlicensed mining operation and had reported it to the government and law enforcers in 2016.
The ministry claimed to have alerted local authorities in the area months ago about the existence of illegal mines.
Unlicensed artisanal mining is rampant in the country. The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) records at least 850 unauthorized small-scale mining sites across the archipelago as of 2018.
“Some of the mines have been operating for dozens of years with turnovers reaching up to hundreds of millions of rupiah,” Jatam national coordinator Merah Johansyah said.
Such mining operations had also approximately cost the nation up to 120 tons of gold every year, according to an estimate by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry in 2014.
The 2009 Mining Law actually allows small-scale miners to operate legally by submitting a request to obtain a community mining permit. Individuals can request such permits to operate in a certain area, called a people’s mining area, which fulfils several characteristics, including being outside an existing concession and having been excavated for at least 15 years.
The establishment of such areas is decided by the regional administration after consultation with the regional legislative council.
The regulation, however, is not backed up by a strong political will from regional administrations and councils, which are supposed to issue a regional bylaw to support small-scale miners, natural resources law expert from Tarumanagara University, Ahmad Redi, said.
“Such reluctance might be caused by the high cost of mining hole reclamation and post-mining activities [that should be] carried out by the local administration; thus placing an additional burden on the local budget,” Ahmad said.
Requiring small-scale miners to cover the costs of exploration and rehabilitation activities might not be an option, as “such costs are likely to be greater than the revenues,” said Budi Santoso, director of the Centre for Indonesian Resources Strategic Studies (Cirrus).
Indonesian Mining Institute chairman Irwandy Arif, also a mining professor at the Bandung Institute of Technology, said the solution should come through a collaboration involving the central government, regional administrations and law enforcers.
“For unlicensed artisanal mines owned by citizens, the government should provide financial and technical assistance, so these citizens could develop a mining site into one that complies with safety principles,” he said.
As of 6 p.m. local time on Thursday, the joint rescue team had recovered seven dead bodies and rescued 19 workers who were previously trapped in the mine, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
