Hundreds of Illegal Miners Detained in Lombok

By Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post/West Lombok

The West Lombok administration has detained at least 202 people from South Kalimantan, who attempted to work at an illegal gold mine at Batu Mujur, Sekotong district, about 50 kilometers south of Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara.

Basirun Anwar, the administrations spokesman, said that the 202 people, including rwo women, entered West Lombok on Wednesday evening in rented cars and were detained when they were buying cooking utensils at the market in Sekotong.

"After their data "was registered at the administration office, they were handed over to the provincial social service office to arrange for them to be sent back home," Basirun said.

"They came from several districts in Tanah Laut regency, South Kalimantan. We considered them illegal workers, as they were about to work at a gold mine, which has been closed by the local administration," he said.

The closure of the mine was issued by authorities following a major landslide, which killed six miners several days ago. Despite the incident, an increasing number of people continue to flock to the mine to search of gold. He said that his administration had assigned a joint team to help secure the mine site, consisting of representatives from the Indonesian military, police, the administration police and the Sekotong security office.

After closing the mine, the West Lombok administration urged the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration to revise Regional Regulation No. 11/2006 on the banningof gold mining, so as to enable the administration to mine the existing gold reserves itself.

Basirun explained that in order to send the miners back to South Kalimantan, the regency administration was coordinating with the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration and their respective provinces of origin. Several would-be miners admitted they left their hometowns for Lombok upon hearing about the gold prospects.

They traveled at a cost of Rp 1 million (USS90) to Rp 2 million each by boat from Banjarmasin to Surabaya, before reaching Sekotong. Most took loans from relatives or other sources to pay these expenses.

Suryansah, SO, one of the newcomers from Tabang Ulang district in South Kalimantan, said that the accident, which killed six people, still didnt prevent him from coming to Lombok.

http://www.ima-api.com/