Gold Mine in Papua – Indonesia is one of the world’s gold-producing countries. As we know, gold is generally for jewelry, photography, and scientific laboratory equipment. And it is also known that gold production in Indonesia is estimated to reach 48 tons annually! Thus, Indonesia has become the third gold-producing country in Asia.
Meanwhile, gold production in Indonesia last year, based on data from the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal (Ditjen Minerba) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, was recorded at 78.9 tons.
Meanwhile, this year, production is targeted to increase by 20 percent to 94.9 tons. It is also not a secret anymore that Indonesia’s total gold production in 2022 is 100.9 tons, and the majority of gold production is from the Grasberg mine in Mimika, Papua.
Indonesia’s Big Gold Mine in Papua
Freeport Indonesia’s mine in Papua is renowned as one of the largest gold mines in the world. It is estimated that the gold reserves of Grasberg, part of Freeport, are at 106.2 million ounces.
That amount is more than double the gold reserves in Siberia, Russia. Based on 2012 calculations, the Olimpiada gold mine in Siberia has reserves of 47.5 million ounces.
As of December 2019, MIND ID, the parent of Freeport Indonesia, revealed that the total (proven+probable) reserves for Freeport Indonesia’s gold were 29.08 million troy ounces. Freeport has extracted that much gold since it first started mining in 1970.
This figure makes sense since Freeport statistics made public last year, the Gressberg mine produced over 14 million tons of gold between 2011 and 2021, or during ten years. When you subtract, the total is larger.
Get to Know PT. Freeport Indonesia
The existence and development of the cities of Timika, Tembagapura, and Kuala Kencana in Mimika Regency, Papua Province, cannot be separated from the existence of the PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) mine. During an expedition in 1936, Jean Jacques Dozy, a young Dutch geologist, discovered Ertsberg. The expanse of the mountain in the interior, which is now located in Mimika Regency, Papua, which is only overgrown with grass, turns out to be a stretch of copper minerals with accompanying minerals of gold and silver.
At that time, Dozy thought the ore deposits seemed impossible to mine with the extremely difficult terrain. The expedition conducted by Dozy and his friends ended up in a journal in the Dutch library. On a trip to Europe in the late 1950s, Forbes Wilson came across Dozy’s valuable report. Wilson, who was then Freeport Sulfur’s Exploration Manager, was amazed after reading the journal. He then wanted to prove himself the miracle in the interior of the Gold Mine in Papua.
In 1960, after receiving support from the company, Wilson organized an expedition to Papua. What Dozy wrote is true. With Wilson’s recommendation, Freeport entered Indonesia to sign the contract for the first time in 1967. From there, the forerunner of PTFI, a United States mining company, later became the main backbone of Freeport McMoran Inc.
Timika Entrance to Gold Mine in Papua
One of the cities in Papua experiencing rapid development is Timika City, the capital of Mimika Regency. The development of this city is inseparable from the existence of the giant mining company PTFI. Timika City is the gateway to PTFI’s mining operations area.
Mimika officially became the definitive district in 1999. After 32 years, it’s status as part of the Fakfak Regency area. Mimika Regency has an area of 19.6 thousand km2 or the equivalent of 4.8% of the total area of Papua Province.
Mimika’s population continues to grow from 1,000 people in 1973 to around 200,000 people, with a population growth rate of about 5% per year, according to BPS data. “It is undeniable that PTFI has been the engine of Mimika’s economic growth for more than four decades,” said Septinus Soumilena, Head of Mimika’s Manpower Office (Kadisnaker).
More Copper And Gold Mines For Papua?
The 181,500-hectare exploration area is located in the Sorong and Manokwari districts of the Bird’s Head region of West Papua. In May this year, the Australian company Hillgrove Resources Ltd. announced it had finished a “socialization process” to introduce its exploration plans to local communities, police and security forces, and others.
According to the firm, the procedure entailed corporate officials visiting settlements along the region’s northern shore was essential before a “big exploration endeavor.” In the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Hillgrove is the holder of a further exploration permit for the island of Sumba. PT Akram Resources is the company’s local Indonesian partner.
Arc Exploration, Ltd. is looking at a second project called Aisasjur to the south of the Hillgrove concession. Arc, formerly known as Austindo Resources Corporation NL, was given a “KP” license to explore 9,486 hectares of land in the Bintuni Bay region in 2005 for three years that they might renew.
Final Words
It acquired two more exploration sites, totaling 51,410 acres, in June of this year. There are more open applications. Anglo American, a mining conglomerate in the UK, is a party to the company’s finance arrangement. The owners of the licenses are PT Alam Papua Nusantara.
The first agreement to explore a 91 km2 region next to Freeport-Rio Tinto’s mining concession was announced by a third firm, Nickel ore Limited, in August. The “Papua Gold & Copper Project” consists of two licensing areas northeast of the Gold Mine in Papua, Grasberg, owned by Freeport-Rio Tinto.
