West Papua is not only rich in its culture, but also they are famous for their natural beauty (the famous Raja Ampat island is one of the most wanted destination for diving lovers because of their underwater biodiversity), the exotic animals and plants, and their natural resources. West Papua land is rich in minerals, from bronze, silver, to gold. Everything you want, West Papua already has it within.
Freeport Indonesia
Freeport Indonesia is the company who has the mining rights in West Papua, Indonesia. It is an affiliate company between Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum). Freeport can do the mining, processing and exploration of copper, gold and silver. The operation area is in Tembagapura, province of Papua, Indonesia. Freeport Indonesia the rights to market the concentrate consist of copper, gold and silver all around the world.
Grasberg Mine in Papua is one of the biggest mines in the world, with total mineral around 3,8 milliard ton. Freeport already operate in here since 1991. But, it is not easy to mined in Grasberg. After the opened part is running out of the mineral, Freeport will develop the underground mine beneath the Grasberg Mountain. Again, the underground mine of Freeport in Papua is one of the biggest underground mines in the world. Freeport employees in total is 32,000 people, 99% of the workers are Indonesian, and 35-40% are local Papuan people, like Hengky Rumbino.
Who is Hengky Rumbino
Hengky Rumbino is the Vice President Underground Mine Operations in PT Freeport Indonesia. This underground project is under his working area. His working area are for underground deep ore zone and deep mill level zone. He is a specialist in geologist for underground copper mining in Tembagapura, Papua. He has an important role to manage and operate this one of the biggest mines.
Hengky Rumbino was born in Wamena in 1979. Wamena is the largest town in West Papua’s highland, located in Lembah Baliem. It is the urban centre of rural housing highland of West Papua with the highest concentration of population. There are various ethnic groups of West Papua in here, the most prominent are Dani, Lani and Yali.
He comes from a discipline family and well-educated. His father and mother are elementary teachers. They often went to the hinterland to teach kids there. His family’s home is only one hour away from Tembagapura, the centre of mining of Freeport Indonesia.
Hengky’s Education and His Dream to Work In Freeport
Ever since Hengky Rumbino was a kid, he often saw his parents’ families are working for Freeport. They came to Hengky’s home with many things to be given to his family. In his simple mind, working in Freeport means prosperity. Thus, he aimed to work in Freeport. Since he was in middle school, he already interested in mining process, especially he already saw there is a big mining company close to his town.
He is a determined person. He always wanted to be the best in his class, therefore he could succeed to enter in the best university which can make him into a mining engineer. He finished his school with a very good mark.
In the early 1990s, the local government of Jayapura built the prestigious senior high school called SMAN 3 Jayapura. He was chosen to join this school in 1996. He was in the main class and this class was prepared to join the national university test known as Ujian Masuk Perguruan Tinggi Negeri (UMPTN). This is a competitive test because many students are eager to enter in the national universities. Hengky Rumbino was aiming to get a seat in the geology studies in Institut Teknologi Bandung.
He graduated from ITB and earned his degree in Geology/Mining in 2002. A year later, he succeeds to be admitted into Graduate Development Program, this is a recruitment program for the new employee in Freeport Indonesia for the fresh graduate. This was highly competitive and he had to compete with many brilliant people.
Through this program he is prepared to be a Freeport employee with a plan to reach the top of his career according to his achievement. After became an official employee, he works in the underground mine of Tembagapura.
During his time, it was only him and one of his associates were from Papua. This colleague was already 50 years old at the time. The biggest recruitment for Papua people, especially for engineer was during 2006. In 2013 there were 100 mining engineers who have Papua roots.
Conclusion
West Papua has so many hidden gems, from the natural resources to its people. With a good education and also their determination, these people can be successful and be whatever they want. Just like the determination shown by Hengky Rumbino. One of the local from West Papua who finally achieve his dream to work in one of the biggest mines in the world, and even have the prestigious position.
