Indonesia’s enforcement ‘weakness’ exposed in Chinese man’s trial on illegal mining

The trial of a Chinese national accused of illegally mining more than US$65 million worth of gold in Indonesia has cast a harsh light on the nation’s “weakness” in tackling illicit mining operations and the alleged complicity of authorities, analysts say.

The Chinese man, identified by his initials YH, is on trial in West Kalimantan’s Ketapang regency for illegally extracting 774.27kg of gold and 937.7kg of silver, causing state losses estimated at 1.02 trillion rupiah (US$65.9 million).

The trial, which started on August 28 but was disclosed by the ministry of energy and mineral resources on September 29, also revealed that YH employed more than 80 Chinese workers and a number of locals who were tasked with non-mining works such as water pumping, housekeeping and catering.

The workers used heavy machinery such as picks, dump trucks and electric lower loaders, as well as mercury, to extract gold from the mud and other metals. The trial revealed “a quite high” mercury level of 41.35 micrograms per kilogram in the gold sample, the ministry said.

In May, Sunindyo Suryo Herdadi, director of engineering and environment at the ministry’s directorate general of minerals and coal, told reporters the defendant had taken advantage of mining tunnels in licensed mining areas that were not maintained by the licensed miners.