Pongkor gold mining site not suitable for traditional miners

The Pongkor gold mining site in Bogor regency, West Java province, is not suitable for traditional miners because of the tough condition of the mining site and the vertical distribution of the minerals in the location, according to an expert.

President of state gold and copper mining firm PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) Deddy A. Sumanagara said that the traditional miners would face a very huge risk to mine such a mining site because they have to dig deep by using only traditional gadgets.

The Pongkor gold mining site belongs to Antam, but thousands of traditional miners have also illegally mined the area, and many of them had been killed. The traditional miners have also polluted the local rivers. To solve the problem, there has been suggestion that the traditional miners to be organized and allow them to mine a certain part of the site.

But Deddy warned that it would be dangerous for traditional miners to mine the Pongkor mining site.(*)