Commodity Online DETUSOKO, Indonesia: Local gold mining operations in the Muslim dominated Indonesia has come in for flak from church personnel saying it is not relevant to the geology, topology and topography of Flores and Lembata as well as neighboring Indonesian islands.
In a statement issued by Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation commission, it said the socio-cultural and economic situation of local people whose main livelihood is farming and fishing is severely affected.
Golden opportunity to view Gold Futures prices the way you want it to be "To make mining a choice of strategic and urgent development for people on Flores and Lembata and the neighboring islands is counter-productive and destroys people's social, economic and cultural life," they said, maintaining that "mining benefits only companies instead of local people."
Mining, they said spoils the pristine land and sea, after which it is unsuitable for farming or fishing by local people. At present 30 mining companies operate on the islands.
Early this month a landslide triggered by heavy rain killed 10 gold miners in Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi province. The accident raised the mining death toll in the area to 60 since early September.
Indonesia has some of the world's largest deposits of gold, tin, copper and nickel. Some world’s biggest names in mining are in business in this country.
The mining sector, though, is not conducive to foreign investment owing to legal tangles, high corruption in government circles and huge concerns over the environment and land disputes.
This is the reason why mining sector grew by just 4 percent in 2007 due to poor response from global players.
In 2006 after P.T. Merukh Enterprise Cooper signed a working contract with the Lembata district government to explore for gold, the Church sided with local people who opposed the agreement involving 46,000 hectares that include five villages with more than 10,000 people.
UCANews, a leading Church news agency covering Asian countries quoted Andreas Duli Manuk, head of Lembata district saying that his government will not revoke the license it already gave. "The license the government gave is only for exploration. Gold-mining operations have not started yet," he clarified, adding that those opposing the project were misinformed.
