Mercury will be the focus on Lombok For the interested.... This report was initiated in 2010 and finished in 2012. Mercury is present. The world knows about Lombok's mercury. Now they will have to either stop illegal mining or change how the process is handled. Either way the focus will be on mining on Lombok. Illegal and legal. Cheers.
IDRF Final Report:
Assessment of biogeochemical mercury cycling: Sekotong
artisanal mining area, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (WNT)
Province, Indonesia
"There are positive aspects to ASGM in Lombok: employment, income and profit for investment. However, the detrimental environmental effects of ASGM operations have been widely reported worldwide. An assessment for the potential risk of mercury cycling through the Lombok environment (soil-water-plants-animals), and the development of ideas to promote environmental protection and sustainability, are the objectives of the current research.
As part of the project, ASGM operations on the island to the west of Lombok, Sumbawa, were also investigated. ASGM on Sumbawa is very recent, but the emerging problems are the same as those at Sekotong"
" Exploration for gold and copper mineralisation in West Lombok was initiated in the 1980s by the international mining company Newmont. The area has well understood epithermal vein and porphyry deposits, with the type of deposit depending on the age of mineralisation (local knowledge and unpublished Indonesian geology reports). Newmont relinquished its mining rights to exploration areas in West Lombok during the late 1980s and 1990s as the company shifted its focus to development of the Batu Hijau mine on the adjacent island of Sumbawa (PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara).
The Canadian company Southern Arc Minerals Inc. subsequently took over the mining and exploration tenements and has an active exploration program in the area. Despite Newmont?s decision not to develop the Sekotong area, visible grades of gold were recorded. These were noted by the field assistants that worked with Newmont?s geologists. Word spread within the Sekotong community of the presence of gold at select locations. Artisanal miners from Lombok and other islands quickly moved to exploit the resource and today ASGM activities are underway at many locations."Link to article: https://www.aid.govt.nz/webfm_send/312