ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – A Chinese citizen with the initials YH was arrested by officers from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources together with the Criminal and Investigation Agency of the Republic of Indonesia Police for carrying out illegal gold ore mining activities in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan.
“It was discovered that unauthorized activity occurred at the scene of the crime committed by the suspect with the initials YH,” said the Director of Mineral and Coal Engineering and Environment at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Sunindyo Suryo Herdadi in a press conference, “Mineral and Coal Mining Law Enforcement” which was held at the Office of the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal, Jakarta, Saturday evening.
Sunindyo said that until now, his party was still conducting an in-depth investigation regarding the total weight of gold in the form of dore/bullion that had been produced, calculating the total state losses, as well as investigating the parties involved.
Furthermore, he explained that these findings began with the actions of investigators who carried out supervision, observation, research and inspection of mining activities without a gold ore permit.
Investigators discovered the mining activity, which took place underground.
A number of pieces of evidence found were tapping/labeling tools, gold moulds, gold filters, induction smelting, heavy equipment in the form of lower loaders, and electric dump trucks.
Nindyo said that the method used in this criminal act was to utilize a deep mining hole (tunnel) which was still under maintenance and did not have a production operation permit.
“For the reason of these maintenance and upkeep activities, they carry out production activities to extract gold ore at the location, including processing and refining in the tunnel,” said Nindyo.
The results of the refining work in the tunnel are taken out of the pit in the form of gold dore/bullion for sale.
Nindyo said that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources was still investigating the place where illegal gold mining products were sold.
For this illegal activity, the perpetrator was clearly stated to have carried out mining activities without a permit as intended in Article 158 of Law Number 3 of 2020 with the threat of a maximum prison sentence of five years and a maximum fine of IDR 100 billion.
“However, this case does not rule out the possibility of being developed into a criminal case under laws other than the Mineral and Coal Law,” he said. (ANT)
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