Responding To Martabe Mine Operation Which Was Temporarily Stopped, Deputy Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources: Environmental Audit

Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has opened its voice regarding the Ministry of Environment (KLH)'s temporary suspension of Martabe gold mining operations in South Tapanuli, North Sumatra (North Sumatra).

The mine managed by PT Agincourt Resources, a subsidiary of Astra Group, is known to be in the upper reaches of the Batang Toru river basin (DAS), which is considered to have exacerbated flooding in Sumatra.

Met by media crew Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung said the termination was not done without purpose.

The government aims to conduct an overall audit of the environmental impacts caused by these mining activities.

"So in the context of an audit, the recommendations from the (Ministry) of the Environment are actually temporarily suspended," said Yuliot when met at the Office of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Friday, December 12.

For this reason, Yuliot also said that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had deployed an environmental engineering team to cooperate with a team from the Ministry of Environment to directly review mining operations, especially those located in disaster-affected areas.

"So all of them are being audited again related to environmental governance obligations, which then have an impact on the environment," Yuliot explained.

Previously, the Ministry of Environment (KLH) sealed four companies that were suspected of exacerbating flooding in Aceh and Sumatra.

Deputy Minister of Environment Diaz Faisal Malik Hendropriyono said the four companies had been fitted with lines of Environmental Protection and Management (PPKH).

"There are 4 companies that have installed the Supervisory Board and PPLH Line seal including," Diaz told the media crew.

The four companies consist of PT Agincourt Resources which is engaged in gold mining, PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE) developer of PLTA Batang Toru, PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (PTPN III), and palm oil plantation company PT Sago Nauli.

Berdasarkan penelusuran, PT Agincourt Resources milik PT Danusa Tambang Nusantara (95 persen) dan sebagian kecil pemerintah daerah (5 persen), sementara Danusa sendiri adalah anak usaha dari PT United Tractors Tbk (UNTR) dan PT Pamapersada Nusantara (PAMA), yang semuanya berada di bawah konglomerasi PT Astra International Tbk. Jadi, secara keseluruhan, PT Agincourt Resources merupakan bagian dari grup bisnis Astra melalui lini pertambangannya.

Based on the search, PT Agincourt Resources belongs to PT Danusa Tambang Nusantara (95 percent) and a small part of the local government (5 percent), while Danusa itself is a subsidiary of PT United Tractors Tbk (UNTR) and PT Pamapersada Nusantara (PAMA), all of which are under the conglomerate PT Astra International Tbk. So, overall, PT Agincourt Resources is part of Astra's business group through its mining line.