Merdeka Copper Gold Owned By Conglomerates Edwin Soeryadjaya And Sandiaga Uno Exploration In 3 Areas, Spending IDR 300.78 Billion

JAKARTA - The company owned by conglomerates Edwin Soeryadjaya and Sandiaga Uno, PT Merdeka Copper Gold Tbk (MDKA) continues to carry out exploration activities in three different areas in Indonesia, namely Tujuh Bukit in East Java, Pulau Wetar in West Maluku, and Pani in Gorontalo.

The total cost spent to support all exploration activities of this mineral and metal issuer in Indonesia during the second quarter of 2022 reached IDR 300.78 billion.

Merdeka Copper Gold Corporate Secretary Adi Adriansyah explained that the exploration in Tujuh Bukit focuses on copper-gold and gold-silver resources. Meanwhile, exploration in Wetar Island and Pani Island focused on copper and gold resources, respectively.

For copper and gold exploration at the Tujuh Bukit Project, Merdeka Copper Gold spent a total cost of IDR 179.81 billion in the second quarter of 2022. These costs were used, among others, for tunnel maintenance, underground resource definition drilling, and related test work. The Tujuh Bukit area in Banyuwangi, East Java is home to copper and gold resources.

The exploration was carried out by PT Merdeka Mining Servis with the test method of drilling from underground and surface on related test work. Adi explained that the test area selected for drilling at this time is the area in the Tujuh Bukit porphyry deposit.

"In the largest area that contains high levels of copper and gold known from drilling to date, and is well-positioned for drilling from the current tunnel location," Adi explained in a written statement, quoted Tuesday 12 July.

As a follow-up, underground drilling will continue using 8 diamond drilling rigs with an additional 3 underground drilling to be carried out in the third quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, gold and silver exploration in the Tujuh Bukit Project cost around Rp. 25.9 billion in the second quarter of 2022, which consists of near-mine resource definition drilling and regional exploration work. MDKA through PT Merdeka Mining Servis, the test methods used in this exploration are surface drilling, regional mapping, and geophysical surveys.

The test area was selected for the near-mine drilling program and regional works because it is an area of the Tujuh Bukit permit that is close to the current pit and with resulting geochemical anomalies.

The next MDKA exploration in the second three months of this year is the Wetar Project which costs around IDR 37.29 billion. The Wetar Project area is located on Wetar Island, West Maluku. PT Merdeka Mining Servis uses test methods in the form of mapping, trajectory surveys, and soil geophysical continuation on regional airborne electromagnetic (EM) targets.

The exploration area was selected based on EM geophysical survey data originating from the air and ground surface as well as a history of mining activities that identified the characteristics of a potential VMS (volcanogenic massive sulfide) deposit.

"Regional exploration will continue around rock anomaly samples and surface geophysical targets in the Lerokis area, including exploration pilot drilling, and surface geophysics will continue to determine new regional drilling targets," Adi explained.

Finally, the exploration budget for the second quarter of 2022 was used for the Pani Project amounting to IDR 57.78 billion. The project, which is located in Gorontalo Province, Sulawesi, is also handled by PT Merdeka Mining Servis. The test method used was diamond drilling starting with eight drill rigs mobilized to the site this quarter.

"Further drill bearings were built and laid water pipelines. The data sets from the PETS IUP and GSM Contract of Work were combined. Then the geological code system was revised and simplified and developed for drill core logging," explained Adi.

The drilling area for the Pani Project was chosen because of the gap between historical drilling in the IUP and the adjacent Contract of Work (COW). Diamond drilling will continue using eight rigs with an additional four rigs planned to begin in the early third quarter of 2022.