Director General Of Mineral And Coal ESDM Says Gag Nickel Has Not Fully Operated

Director General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Tri Winarno. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Director General of Mineral and Coal (Dirjen Minerba) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Tri Winarno revealed that currently PT Gag Nickel is already operating, although not entirely.

For information, previously the operation of PT Gag was temporarily frozen since June 5, 2025.

According to Tri, the operations that were carried out by PT Gag were again because the government was evaluating the mining carried out and auditing environmental governance.

"That's in order to evaluate the overall environmental audit, it must be under operational conditions," Tri told the media crew, Monday, September 15.

Previously, the Minister of Environment (LH) Hanif Faisol Nurofiq ensured that he would increase supervision of the performance of environmental governance for PT Gag Nickel, which is back in operation in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua.

Hanif conveyed that an environmental audit had been carried out on PT Gag Nickel, which has the results of the evaluation of the Company Performance Assessment Program (PROPER) showing the company was ranked green.

"So the President's direction, although we did not withdraw the Gag, but the supervision must be multi-layered. We have done it, so routinely we will increase the intensity of visits to Gag," said Hanif as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, September 11.

Dia menjelaskan dalam menjalankan permintaan Presiden Prabowo Subianto untuk meningkatkan pengawasan aktivitas tambang perusahaan yang berada di pulau kecil itu pihaknya sudah menyusun audit lingkungan yang ditambahkan dalam persetujuan lingkungan perusahaan.

"Jadi ada penambahan beban pengawasan, penambahan komponen dan variabel pengawasan. Kemudian juga ada peningkatan intensitas kunjungan," tutur Hanif.

He explained that in carrying out President Prabowo Subianto's request to increase supervision of the mining activities of companies on the small island, his party had compiled an environmental audit added to the company's environmental approval.

"So there is an additional supervisory burden, additional components and supervisory variables. Then there is also an increase in the intensity of visits," said Hanif.