There Is A Nickel Mine In Raja Ampat, Owned By Antam's Subsidiary, Bahlil Temporarily Stops Its Operations
JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia announced the temporary suspension of PT Gag Nickel's operations, which is the owner of a nickel mine in Raja Ampat. Just so you know, Gag Nickel is a subsidiary of PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM) which carries out mining activities in the Papuan Bird Head area.
"PT Gag, which is currently managing it, will temporarily stop its operations until field verification. We will check," Bahlil told the media crew at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Thursday, June 5.
Bahlil explained that there were actually several mining business permits (IUP) in the area around Raja Ampat, but only PT Gag Nickel carried out operational activities. Gag Nickel, he said, had held an IUP since 2017 and had started mining activities since 2018. Bahlil emphasized that the operational permit was issued long before he served as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.
"What is operating is PT Gag Nickel which owns Antam. BUMN. IUP is produced in 2017," continued Bahlil.
Based on the results of his review, Bahlil said that the operational location of Gag Nickel is located 30 to 40 km from Pianemo Island which is one of the tourism islands in Raja Ampat. On the other hand, Bahlil emphasized that the area of Raja Ampat is approaching the North Maluku Province and there are many conservation forests and islands for tourism activities.
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"And we must protect the Raja Ampat area. So the area has conservation forestry, but there is also an island that does have mining," Bahlil explained.
For this reason, Bahlil emphasized that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had deployed a team to carry out direct checks in the field and verify. While waiting for verification, Bahlil through the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal will stop the operation of PT Gag until the inspection process in the field is completed.
"So what? I want to be objective. In order to avoid confusion, we will carry out the Director General of Mineral and Coal for the status of PT Gag IUP while we stop its operations," said Bahlil.