Alarge part of the land in West Sumbawa has been significantly affected by mining operations and it requires magic to completely rehabilitate what used to be a green hill, but the engineers of PT NNT ensure that at least they preserve what is possible.
A major challenge facing mining companies is to turn obstacles into opportunities. One of Indonesia’s biggest miners PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara knows it too well.
PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) is the Indonesian unit of Newmont Mining. It operates the Batu Hijau gold and copper mine in Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara.
Newmont Nusa Tenggara, through its corporate social responsibility program, set up an annual Sustainable Mining Bootcamp to introduce sustainable mining operations through a hands-on experience. Now in its second year, the company invited seventeen participants from various backgrounds (engineering, business, travel, journalism) to get involved in various activities at the Batu Hijau mining site.
Within a week, participants were given the opportunity to observe how the company run their mining, processing, environmental maintenance, as well as corporate social responsibility projects.
The Jakarta Globe Blogs spoke to Andhyta Firselly Utami, a university student majoring in international relations and participant of this year’s program about how mining operations affect local people and their environment, and why young Indonesians need to care about the issue.
Andhyta, why did you decide to join the bootcamp?
The debates surrounding the morality of mining—not to mention additional sentiments sparked by nationalism— has always tickled me. I wanted to take a closer look upon how everything was done.
How can these mining companies heartlessly disrupt the balance of nature for the sake of mere profit? Do they really calculate the harm that they’re creating in order to dig some minerals from the ground?
These questions—including the problem of what benefits Indonesian people can gain from their business— were what encouraged me to participate in the event.
By the end of the camp, were your questions answered?