PAPUA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia directly checked the nickel mine on Gag Island, Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, in response to public protests and at the same time to get an objective picture of conditions on the ground.
"I came here to check directly, to see objectively what really happened," said Bahlil when met on Gag Island, Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, Saturday.
The results of the live review will be conveyed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources team.
"Later, the results will be informed by my team," said Bahlil.
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Apart from Bahlil, the Director General of Mineral and Coal (Minerba) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Tri Winarno also directly inspected nickel mining activities on Gag Island.
According to Tri, the land area of Gag Island that is opened for nickel mining is not too large. In addition, he also highlighted the total land clearing that had been reclamationd by PT GAG Nickel.
"In total, the land clearing is not very large. Of the total 263 hectares, 131 hectares have been reclamationd and 59 hectares have been considered successful in reclamation," said Tri.
In addition, based on Tri's monitoring from the air by helicopter, there is no visible sedimentation of coastal areas. Therefore, he assessed that the GAG mine had no problems.
"Overall, there is no problem with mining," he said.
However, Tri has not been able to confirm when the government will release the results of the evaluation of the subsidiary PT Antam Tbk. The results of the evaluation are awaited by PT GAG Nickel, because they will determine whether they will continue the operation or stop it.
Based on ANTARA's monitoring on Gag Island, Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, Saturday, PT GAG Nickel's mining activities were temporarily suspended. According to information gathered at the location, the mining activity was stopped since the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources gave instructions at a press conference at the Office of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Jakarta, Thursday (5/6/2025).
Previously, Minister Bahlil temporarily suspended GAG Nickel's operations on Gag Island to follow up on public complaints. He said that to ensure that all procedures were adhered to by the inspection team, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had been dispatched to the field.
GAG Nickel has a type of licensing in the form of a work contract registered in the Mineral One Data Indonesia (MODI) application with license certificate number 430.K/30/DJB/2017 and a mining permit area of 13,136 ha. According to Bahlil, GAG Nickel is the only company currently producing in the region.
The work contract (KK) of Antam's subsidiary was issued in 2017 and began operating a year later after pocketing an analysis of environmental impacts (amdals).
"There are several mining permits in Raja Ampat, maybe five. Now, only one is operating now, namely GAG. GAG Nickel has Antam, BUMN," said Bahlil.
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