Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Companies are usually reluctant
to seek government intervention
to remove 'illegal miners '.
government intervention to remove 'illegal miners'. One reason is that such interven-
tion invariably leads to adverse publicity in which the company is portrayed as the greedy
capitalist, exploiting the poor by occupation of their lands and depriving them of tradi-
tional livelihoods. NGOs are quick to seize on these situations, sometimes visiting the sites
with attempts to inl ame the situation and invariably producing a biased story including
half-truths, exaggerations, and un-verii ed accusations. Even well-respected aid organi-
zations such as the Australia-based Community Aid Abroad have been involved in such
campaigns, perpetuating erroneous allegations and ignoring the less newsworthy efforts of
a company to reach an amicable and mutually benei cial outcome.
Even worse publicity follows when attempts by government forces to remove 'illegal
miners', lead to violence and bloodshed. Again, such incidents are often exaggerated in
press reports based on hearsay, rather than on-the-spot reporting.
In efforts to avoid conl icts between mining companies and small-scale miners, govern-
ments in several countries, including Thailand and Indonesia, have established 'Peoples'
Mining Areas' specii cally set aside for small-scale mining. In these cases, the operations
may be closely controlled, with government ofi cials supplying permits and collecting fees.
CASE 5.7
Illegal Gold Mining at Talawaan near Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
The Talawaan gold ore body, located only 10 km from the
Provincial capital Manado in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, was
discovered by PT Tambang Tondano Nusajaya, an Indonesian
subsidiary of Australia's Aurora Gold in 1997. Subsequent
drilling delineated a medium-sized, relatively high grade
ore body amenable to mining by open pit methods.
While exploration drilling operations were underway, in
1998, the site was invaded and occupied by large numbers
of illegal miners. Efforts by the company to have the
illegal miners evicted, were unsuccessful and the company
abandoned its activities, essentially leaving the area to
the illegal miners. The situation then rapidly became
'legitimized' in the sense that local government offi cials
arrived on the scene, establishing order, setting aside areas
for mining, mineral processing and retail services, issuing
permits and collecting fees.
At its peak in 2001, about 3000 people were working
at the site - mining, hauling, and processing ore. Up to
400 processing units involving multiple trommels (small
electric powered rotating mills) were active at this time.
Mercury was used to extract gold and silver from the
milled ore. Solid wastes were dumped on-site with liquid
effl uents discharged to the nearby river. Subsequent inves-
tigations indicated widespread mercury contamination of
surface water and river-bed sediment, at levels well above
human health risk thresholds. Activities have since declined
markedly as most of the high grade ore above the water
table has been extracted.
Although low grade ore remains above the water table
and high grade ore below it, the overall resource has been
substantially depleted, to the extent that it may not be eco-
nomically feasible, in the foreseeable future, to extract the
remaining ore. In the meantime, the legacy from mercury
contamination will persist for decades. The parent company
(Aurora Gold) which no longer exists, received no revenue
or compensation from Talawaan, despite having discovered
the ore body, spending millions of dollars on its delineation,
and owning the legal rights for its exploitation. Furthermore,
largely as a result of this situation, confi dence in Indonesia's
Contract-of-Work system was severely diminished, and
mineral exploration in Indonesia suffered a severe downturn
from which it has not completely recovered.
 
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