Manado, Ekuatorial – Despite of strong rejection from green activists, North Sulawesi government kept on issuing permits for mining in the area, said an official recently.
Up to March, local government had already issued at least 145 Mining Business Permits, or locally known as IUP.
“Up till now, there are 145 permits issued [by the government] located in 12 out of 15 districts in North Sulawesi with a total areas of 403,000 hectares,” said Marly Gumalak, head of North Sulawesi Energy and Mineral Resources agency.
Most of those permits, Gumalak said were for gold and stone mining.
“[There are] 60 permits for gold mining and 63 permits for stones. Meanwhile, the rests are for ironore, manganese, nickel and iron ore,” he said adding that only Sitaro district, Kotamobagu district and Manado city which were spared from the permits.
In separate place, Flora Kalalo, an environmental law expert of Malang’s Brawijaya University, said that mining permits issuance by the government had been one of the cause for environmental destruction.
Ironically, Kalalo said those permits were mostly not in accordance with the law.
“Though it’s against the law, they keep on issuing mining permits,” she said. “Why? Because, money talks.”
She cited permit given to PT Metal Mikgro Prime (MMP) on Bangka island, East Likupang sub-district, North Minahasa district, North Sulawesi despite of it was a small island and was not appropriate for mining activities.
Another rejection came from villagers of Buyat, East Bolaang Mongondow as they reported PT Bolmong Timur Primanusa Resources (BTPR) to Manado Legal Aid Institution for damaging the environment and creating internal conflict among them.
Based on North Sulawesi energy and mineral resources agency, the company had been granted gold mining permit over a total of 7,902 hectares.
Alfian Lasabuda, representative for Buyat villagers, said that the company’s activities did not only damage the environment but also creating conflict.
“Villagers are split between pros and cons. In this situation, it would be easy to spark conflict among villagers, either in psychological and physical,” said Lasabuda adding that the government need to address the situation before situation got worse. Yoseph Ikanubun