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INFORMAL GOLD MINING IN BAYAH BEACH, BANTEN, INDONESIA
A Report Prepared for
‘GOING FOR GOLD: SAFE LIVELIHOODS FOR INFORMAL GOLD MINERS IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
ARC Linkage Project
led by Dr Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Dr Keith Barney
June 2015, Canberra: The Australian National University
by:
Dr Rini Soemarwoto
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Contact Details Dr Rini Soemarwoto University, Bandung Indonesia Contact: rini soemarwoto <[email protected]> Dr Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt Senior Fellow Resources, Environment and Development Group Crawford School of Public Policy The Australian National University ACTON, ACT 2602, Australia Telephone: +61409158145 Email: [email protected] Website: www.asmasiapacific.org https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/academic/kuntala-lahiri-dutt Dr Keith Barney Lecturer Resources, Environment & Development Group Crawford School of Public Policy The Australian National University ACTON, ACT 2602, Australia Telephone: +61 2 6125 4957 Email: [email protected] Website: www.asmasiapacific.org https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/academic/keith-barney
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CONTENTS
I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 4
II. Methods .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
III. Bayah beach gold extraction ............................................................................................................................ 5
A. The place ................................................................................................................................................................... 5
b. The social context.................................................................................................................................................. 7
c. The technology ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
d. The organization of production ................................................................................................................... 11
e. Capturing value in gold production and the household economic cycle ................................... 13
III. Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................... 15
IV. Toward a better management of Bayah beach miners ........................................................................... 17
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................................. 18
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................................................ 19
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I. INTRODUCTION
Informal gold mines can be found in many places around the world, including in China (Gunson and
Yue 2001), India (Chakravorty 2001), Africa (de Koning 2009) and Latin America (Godoy 1990;
Roopnarine 2006). Informal gold mine workers are often very mobile (Grätz, 2009). The technology,
regulation and management of these practices have raised a number of concerns regarding
potentially significant and negative implications for local communities, the health of workers, and
environmental wellbeing of these areas (Veiga et al 2014; Dondeyne and Ndunguru 2014; Spiegel
2011; Zhang 2010; Shandro 2009; Grätz 2009; Hilson and Pardie 2006; Kuntala 2004; Ballard
2003). This case study presents a detailed and ethnographic account of such mining in the Bayah
beach in Java, Indonesia.
In Bayah, many miners seem to move continuously from one place to another following the latest
news and updates on gold sites. For example, some local Javanese miners and research informants
whom I have known for the past ten years have transitioned to mining out of farming. They have
been engaged in mining for the past five years, and within the last three years have searched for gold
in north Aceh, in the province of Sumatera, in central Sulawesi, and west of Sumbawa. It seems that
almost small-scale gold mines, at least miners in Bayah, have high mobility. The informal
conversations between miners within this area reveal their experiences of seeking gold in different
places including the eastern part of Indonesia, such as Papua and Maluku. Many miners in Bayah will
move in accordance to the spread of news regarding potential gold sites. However, some miners do
not accept the requirements for such forms of high mobility and therefore may decide to stay at one
place. This includes the group of miners located on the small-scale alluvial mining site in Bayah beach.
The objective of this case study is to analyze informal mining as it is conducted by several groups of
miners that chose to remain at the Bayah beach small-scale alluvial gold mining site. Located on the
west side of the southern region of Java, the sites have largely been abandoned by the majority due
to a fall in its resource competencies, although some miners at this location continue to search for
gold.
II. METHODS
Social analysis of the gold miners at Bayah beach was conducted based upon field interviews and
participant observation at Bayah beach. Data was gathered from four different groups, comprised of:
a wife and husband production group; three unmarried male individual miners; a single male
individual who were also farmer, and a last group of two male individual miners. Other important
actors in this locale, such as two local government officials, three fishermen, one farmer, and one
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private and corporate representative were also interviewed. The social background and general
condition of miners within this region – mostly hard rock miners - were retrieved from their past
experiences and from qualitative interviews on the social histories of miners originating from this
region, whom I met at the stalls or referred to as “warungs” in Indonesian. These miners were
selected due to their familiarity with the local mining history in this region.
III. BAYAH BEACH GOLD EXTRACTION
A. THE PLACE
Bayah beach is located in Cibeber sub-district, Lebak regency, province Banten, approximately 145km
from the capital city of Jakarta (Figure 1). The alluvial mining site is at a distance of 1.6 km from the
regional city of Bayah, upon the beach face that can easily be seen and reached from the main road.
The beach itself is characterized by narrow face with flat to middle slopes.
The geological research in Bayah waters funded by the Research and Development Center for Marine
Geology (Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Geologi Kelautan) reveals that the highest gold content
is at the beach face of Bayah (Kamiludin, 2009). By using amalgamation technique this place produces
gold (Au) bullion at the 6-71 parts per billion (ppb) in different sizes, forms and fineness of gold
placer. Placer deposit can be found in a form of fine specks, lumps and nuggets, either in rocks or
alluvial deposit (Jensen and Bateman, 1981).
Figure 1: Location of Bayah
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Bayah beach sand is composed of resen sediment with lower resilience, whilst dominated by marin
process. The beach sand is composed of black and brown-yellow-whitish colored sands.The blackish
color is associated with magnetic volcanic klastika while the brown-yellow-whitish is correlated with
course sand and coral reef of which is rich in kuarsa and fractional shell biogenic.
Historically, since the late 1960s, alluvial gold were mined from riverbeds along the Cimadur and
Cidikit rivers, the estuaries and deltas and the beach. However since the beginning of the dry season
in 2013, none of the gold miners have been able to access these rivers, as conflicts between miners
and farmers became critical. Such conflicts were resolved through mediation by the head of neighbor
association. However in some cases, it has escalated until the point of police and higher-level
government officers’ involvement. Farmers who owned paddy fields along these rivers strongly
resisted against other locals undertaking mining activities. Mining practices have damaged the ridge
of rice field causing water from rivers to uncontrollably flow into nearby fields. Since drainage is an
important part of wet rice agriculture water management, the uncontrollable water volume spoils
paddy. In addition to wet rice complications, past reports indicated several incidences of fish
mortality in the river (Kabar Banten 2012; Polreslebak 2014).Informant farmers, who gather fish from
the river, said that the water at that time was very turbid. These conflicts are the reasons why miners
have recently moved to the beach face of Bayah. The miners argue that their practice is not
necessarily disrupting the rice field or killing fish in the rivers. They are hoping that in the future they
will be allowed to search gold from the rivers again.
The practice of alluvial gold mining in Bayah beach has its origin in Warung village. Several informant
miners claim Karsa, who lives in Warungas the one who pioneered gold mining. Karsa is now 70 years
old and many generations of his ancestors have lived in Bayah. He worked at PT Aneka Tambang, a
state-owned gold mining company as a security guard and retired in 1967 and now is currently
residing in Warung. The Warung village traversed stream Cimadur and Cidikit Rivers that have the
same watershed with gold mining site of the company. These two rivers until recently were the
location of an informal gold mine.
This is Karsa’s story. One day, in his days of retirement, Karsa walked on the riverbed of Cimadur and
wondered about the mud, which was blackish in color but much thicker than the other mud. He
suspected that there was gold in the midst of the mud as it was drifted by current from upstream
where the Antam gold company operates. Back then he lacked the knowledge to separate grits
contained gold from other materials, and therefore used anything lying around. He found that a bath
towel might do. Whilst the towel was laid at a steepness of 40 degrees, he placed the mud on the
towel surface and doused it with water. The pores of towel turned out caught grits containing gold
and released other materials. He collected gold grits and sifter them with mercury in a pan in the
same way as he learned from the gold mining company. During his first years searching for gold, he
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was supported by Badan Usaha Unit Desa1, a government institution for assisting farmers - by giving
him financial assistance for purchasing mercury and even his gold. At that time gold was valued at
around $0.10 per gram.2 He said that until recently people often sought gold from the rivers, in the
same manner as Karsa does, and there were no restrictions on doing so.
The early1980s was the start of Bayah to thrive as a site of informal gold mining. The Bayah area,
including Cimadur and Cidikit rivers, its estuary, and along beaches, were filled with hundreds of
miners, coming from districts and towns across Banten and West Java provinces, such as Jampang,
Subang, Garut and Tasikmalaya. From 1997 onwards, the number of gold miners increased rapidly
throughout the Bayah region, including the hard rock. The soar of informal gold miningalso took place
nationally. A political transition into the reformation era in 1998brought the nation to a situation of
instability and uncertainty. Monetary crisis, which started earlier in 1997 led to fluctuation of basic
needs price, lasting for about 2 years. At that time the exchange rate of rupiah to USD jumped
approximately 8 times. During the crises, people were compelled to enter the state-owned lands,
including protected forests. Informal gold miners were amongst those who entered the protected
forests. In Bayah area, most informal miners focused on mining gold from hard rock by digging
tunnels to the forest, but many miners also remained in the beach.
During my three visits to Bayah, between June and September 2014, each for a period of one week,
the number of mining production group per day varied considerably. On an average, there were at
least 15 informal gold mining groups operating per day, out of which 9 were continuously present. Six
of those nine groups were from Warung and the 3 others from Kampung 1 and Kampung 2.
B. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT
The city of Bayah is quite small although relatively well developed. Hotels, banks and ATM’s are easily
found. Internet stalls, small shops, minimarts, and importantly, gold shops, are prominent commercial
features of the city.
Traditionally, ethnic Sundanese communities have inhabited the Bayah region. The area is closely
associated with the life of the Baduy and the Kasepuhan, both are references of traditional Sundanese
ethnic groups who live up in the mountain of Kendeng and Halimun, behind the city of Bayah. The
Baduy and the Kasepuhan are until now associated with upland swidden agricultural livelihoods, and
1 Now known as Village Unit Cooperatives (Koperasi Unit Desa).
2In between 1966 – 1970, the exchange rate of USD to Rupiah is 250
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their various rituals accompanying the practice (Geise, 1952; Garna, 1988; Kusnaka, 1992;
Soemarwoto, 2004).
In spite of its predominant agriculture-dependent lives, the city of Bayah has a long history of
supporting gold mining activities. This includes the first gold mining activities in Indonesia formally
run by the state. The gold mine is located at a distance of approximately 30 km north of the city of
Bayah, called after the name of the area, Cikotok. The Cikotok was founded in 1839 and exploited in
1936 by a Dutch company and in 1942 by Japan. In 1954 the Indonesian government continued to
extract gold from the Cikotok site, which was managed by a firm called NV Cikotok Gold Mine
(Tambang Emas Cikotok), under the Management of NV Mining Development Company (Perusahaan
Pembangunan Pertambangan) – the forerunner of the only current state-owned metallic minerals
company PT. Aneka Tambang (Antam). The Antam closed down their production in Cikotok in 2011
and now is concentrated in Pongkor, which had started their production in 1994. The Pongkor is
located up within the mountains at a distance of approximately 40 km, 177 km by car. Antam is now
only guarding Cikotok, and cooperating with local government, to create a tourist destination. The
site still contains several gold veins and now is being extracted by informal miners. Almost all of the
Bayah area, including Cikotok, provides gold in the form of veins cemented to hard rock. These gold
veins are usually extracted from watershed headwaters. Some of the hard rock gold mine activity is
easily seen from the road, as they clear the trees and create temporary residency. The Cimadur and
Cidikit rivers and their estuaries are the only available alluvial gold mining in the area.
The long history of mining activity at Bayah does not mean that all its people have switched to gold
mining activities. The landscape reveals the livelihood of a population still linked to traditional
agricultural practices. The land on the north to the Bayah beach is characterized by a hilly and
mountainous landscape with rice agriculture, gardens, and agro-forestry of many kinds of plants and
woody trees. There are other sorts of livelihoods in Bayah as well, namely fishermen, traders,
laborers, and civil servants at the government offices, police and military. Since 2012 the life of the
people in Bayah town has gone through rapid changes due to the development of a large cement
factory including its corresponding seaport, which will also be exporting coal. Within the last 2 years,
coal has become a large income for the local people. The factory gives employment opportunities for
local people, but the minimum requirements of education can also limit access for Bayah townsfolk. It
seems that not many local people successfully work in the factory. The seaport is now at the stage of
dredging the beach. The factory and seaport are approximately 2 kilometers away from the location
of the Bayah beach, where the alluvial gold miners ply their trade.
Not many people in surrounding areas pay attention to the existence of Bayah beach alluvial gold
mining. Some people whom I crossed at shops and stalls have little knowledge about the Bayah beach
site or its miners. The local government officers are also not really interested to talk about it. The
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miners’ relations with the government authorities are very limited. In order to acquire a permit the
miners only require building a relation with the head of neighbour association (Rukun Tetangga).
However, since the space taken by miners is at the same place as fishermen, the head of the
Fisherman’s Association for South West Java (Persatuan Nelayan Pantai Selatan) takes an interest in
the miners. They charge the miners a sum of money as a contribution for beach management.
C. THE TECHNOLOGY
Gold seeking in Bayah beach involves such activities referred to as working on small panning
(ngadeplang), working on bath towel or carpet (nganduk), and working on large panning (ngadulang).
All these processes are called together as working on bath towel (nganduk) by miners.
The initial step in order to obtain gold is to ask the deity who owns gold to release part of her gold to
human. In order to convey gold request, miners conduct a salametan ritual guided by shaman. This
ritual comprises of giving offerings to the deity including 100 skewers, bitter coffee, cigars, and
chicken or considered better, a cow. These offerings are considered to be equivalent to the amount of
gold (cf. Soemarwoto and Ellen 2010). The greater and better the offering, the more gold will be
released. However, two to three years ago, the offerings have been very limited and even to an
extent where in the past year there was none. Costs were considered too high and thus not
affordable by miners. Following the lack of capital, many miners moved from alluvial to hard rock gold
mining. The movements have increased significantly during the past three years. Some of them
moved to surrounding areas of Bayah, such as Cidikit, Cisiih, Gunung Buleud, and Cibaliung, but some
were as far as other islands of Indonesia, including Maluku dan Sumatera. The miners’ movement
mostly depended on how much money or capital they had earned themselves or had borrowed from
moneylenders.
The work of Bayah beach mining follows the steps as described below:
Figure 2: Dousing sand with water
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Determine the location of gold sands (ngadeplang). By rocking sands in half watered small panning,
miners are able to see a glare of gold in order to determine the right location in beach.
1. Douse sands with water (Figure 2). By dousing water over the sands that are placed in a slope of
about 40 degrees using the appliance (parudan), with its surface covered by carpet, miners are
able to separate gold sands from other unwanted materials. The carpet catches gold sands due
to its higher density.
2. Wash the carpet (nganduk) (Figure 3). By lifting and drowning the carpet in water buckets,
miners are able to separate gold sands from other materials. The gold sands are immersed and
stay at the bottom of the bucket. The gold sands are then moved to a dry bucket.
3. Stir the gold sands with mercury. By mixing the gold sands in the bucket with mercury (hg) for
approximately half an hour, miners are able to spread mercury evenly over the gold sands.
4. Pan mixed mercury gold sands (ngadulang). By panning mixed mercury gold sands miners are
able to make gold amalgam.
5. Squeeze gold amalgamation. By squeezing gold amalgam inside porous fabric, miners are able to
release mercury and leave the pressed gold amalgam behind. The gold amalgam is collected and
is ready for trade, and the mercury is kept for subsequent gold extraction.
Figure 3: Nganduk
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The gold amalgams are then sold to the shops. The miners do not burn the gold amalgam themselves;
it is the shop that does this.
D. THE ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCTION
At Bayah, a production group consists of 2 to 3 individuals. Nine groups continuously seek gold from
the Bayah beach. Out of these nine groups, six are from Warung village that consist of married family
members, whilst three are from Kampung 1 and Kampung 2 that comprise of a single individual, two
single males, and three single males respectively. Four out of six groups from Warung have the same
father, who is the original gold miner from the area, Karsa.
Figure 5: Gold amalgam
Figure 4: Squeezing gold amalgamation
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In general, daily mining starts at 05.30 and finishes at 14.00, or approximately 8.5 hours/day minus
the time for lunch. In 8.5 hours, miners are able to complete 2 to 3 cycles of the six-step mining
process, as described above. However, at times, the duration of work depends on the production of
gold in a day. The goal is to obtain the ‘usual’ amount of amalgam gold, which is 0.5 grams in a day
per production team. Sometimes the miners may extract 0.5 grams all at once, and then take the
opportunity to stop work for the day. In other cases, when they don’t reach the targeted amount,
they work until sunset. During dry season, from June to September, gold production is very low, so
miners often work until 17.00.
Basically, there is little significance of gender division in mining work. Men and women are both able
to do the work – only gold inspection and selling seem confined to men. However, men’s and
women’s work in mining can be differentiated in terms of time and other labour inputs. In one of the
studied groups, comprised of a husband and wife, the husband arrives at the beach site first at 5.30
am, followed by his wife at 07.00. The husband would bring gasoline for the operation of the water
pump, and would prepare the unit at the site. It is the duty of the wife to do house chores such as
cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children, so the wife arrives later and bring food for lunch.
But such scenario is not prevalent across every group. A different arrangement exists amongst the 4
production groups of husband and wife from the Karsa family. As they belong to an extended family
from the same village, women from each household alternately do the house chores for their
extended family. This woman or wife, who stays at the village, pools the work of cooking and taking
care of children in her house. The miners reason that through this arrangement, women have more
time available for work at the gold site. This arrangement seems to efficiently share the risk of
households’ burden to larger families. However, as they leave the house without cooking food, these
men and women eat whatever food they find on site, for example very small fish landed by fishermen
not even worth selling in the market. Those fish are cleaned and cooked just by grilling them over fire.
However at the time of west monsoon with no fishermen at sea, food must be brought from home.
During this period, at the end of the day, women usually go home before the men. Women usually
carry home the pan, whilst men, the shovel, carpet, buckets, and importantly mercury. Mercury is
considered the most important asset than other materials and tools. Gasoline is very easy to obtain
compared to mercury that needs to be ordered at the gold shop, taking between two to three days to
process. Men keep the gold amalgam and go to the gold shops for selling before going home. The
men arrange materials which are financially important: gold amalgam and mercury.
Groups of individuals and youths are generally more flexible with regards to the routines and duration
of work. It is more convenient for them, as they are not married and able to work for longer hours. A
group of only single individual workers is able to do both farm work and mining. For example, one
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group of 3 youths combines mine work with unskilled laborers such as building construction and
fishing by the river.
E. CAPTURING VALUE IN GOLD PRODUCTION AND THE HOUSEHOLD
ECONOMIC CYCLE
The calculations below are intended to provide an estimation of the Bayah Beach miners’ economic
cycle and should be interpreted as indicative only. There are a number of reasons why it is difficult to
estimate miner’s income. Firtly, it is difficult to determine the monthly economic cycle of gold miners
in Bayah beach, since they include their family supplies and needs per day instead of per month.
Secondly, practices of borrowing and lending amongst miners and their acquaintances can be of high
intensity and frequency. Borrowing of money may occur several times in a day, and money may be
returned within a day. Thirdly, debt payments can be repaid through rice, sugar, or cooking oil, or by
providing a service, such as cleaning a house or helping with cooking.
It should be noted that research was conducted between June and September when the seawaves
and winds were low. According to the miners, this particular time of year yields low amounts of gold.
The gold production per day was based on the category of ‘more than usual’, ‘usually’, and ‘less than
usual’ instead of average. The ‘usual’ category was about 0.5 grams of gold amalgam per day.
Here is the calculation based on information provided by miners. One group of miners produced a
‘usual’ gold amalgam of 0.5grams per day, which was valued at $12.27 per 0.5grams.3 In terms of
operational costs, mercury (hg) could have been purchased at a cost of $15.45 per 100 grams per 3
weeks, and gasoline at $1.81 per day. Thus the operational costs of mercury and gasoline per day
were estimated at $2.55.
Other materials needed for gold production were water pump, pipes, bucket, panning, hoe and
shovel. None of the nine studied miner groups were self-sufficient. Three family miner groups from
the Warung village pay $0.6 per day over three years, for the water pump installment. The payment
was accumulated to $648 for the original price of water pump $272.72. One of the head of the family
miner groups was a 39-year old, who graduated from the primary school (Sekolah Dasar, SD) and
started mining at the age of 10, following his father Karsa and therefore has no other work
experience. A water source for processing was also required and was rented out by other miners or
miner’s patrons. There were two small ponds at measuring approximately 300-400 m2 each at Bayah
beach that were used as source of water. One of the ponds was owned by a group of two individual
3Since the end of 2012 the exchange rate of rupiah to other currencies increased rapidly from 9,600
to 11,500 at the time of research.
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miners, headed by a 30-year informant. This group rents out their water pump and pond to other
groups at a rate of $1.81 per day. One infomant of this group, who is now 25 years old and still
unmarried, receives capital from his patron in order to buy water pump and pipes and to pay the
labour for digging new group’s pond. The group had to pay back $1.81 per day over two years. Below
is a summary of groups’ income (Table 1):
Table 1. Cost of gold production for each group of miners per day
Cost ($) Gasoline
and mercury
Water pump
Pond Water pump
and pond Total cost ($)
Group
1 3 groups of families
2.55 0.6 1.35 4.50
2 3 groups of families 2.55 1.81 4.36
3 1 group with the possession of pond (two individual males)
2.55 1.81 (but they receive 2
x 1.81 from two other
groups)
0.73
4 2 groups consisting of single/three males
2.55 1.81 4.36
By calculation, the net income of groups per day will be as below (table 2):
Table 2. Net income of each group per day
Gold amalgam gross income
($)
Gold production cost ($)
Net income
($)
1 3 groups of families 12.27 4.50 7.77
2 3 groups of families 12.27 4.36 7.91
3 1 group with the possession of pond (two males)
12.27 0.73 11.54
4 2 groups consisted of single/three males
12.27 4.36 7.91
Table 2 shows that the overall value of the gold, captured by miners, is between 94% -63%. It is at
least more than 50% and therefore considered quite high.
A household with two or three children required money at approximately $4.55 per day for kerosene,
gasoline, cooking oil, rice, dishes, food for children at school, and transportation. Other needs,
including clothing and housing necessaries, were fullfilled only if there was extra. All 6 family miner
groups had the daily net income of above $4.55, and thus there were no significant financial
difficulties for families to meet their daily needs as long as gold was regularly available and there were
no household disruptions. ‘Leisure’ money was approximated at $3.22 – $6.99 per day.
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In groups of two or three individuals coming from different families, the earnings were divided
amongst them. Thus each person received between $2.63 – $7.91 per day.
Miners claimed during times of limited gold availability, their lives might become more difficult
(tarahal). There were a few other jobs, which could provide alternative incomes. For example a man
could get a job as motorbike driver (tukang ojeg), a construction laborer, or try to find other odd jobs
(kerja serabutan). They might get $2.72 - $3.63 per day for this type of work. This amount of money
was lower than the income from seeking gold and would not be enough for household costs. During
these harder times, they often had to borrow money from informal moneylenders (bank keliling or
rentenir) of course with much higher interest rates compared to standard banks. They also had
borrowed some goods from small shops (warung) or from their neighbours. In a situation where there
was an inability to paydebts, it was sometimes necessary to re-release goods previously purchased by
installments. This was often the case even when significant amounts of money had been paid towards
the installments.
Informants believed that the availability of gold was strongly associated with the season. The west
moonson, that was between December to March,which was accompanied by high seawaves and
strong wind could provide miners a great amount of gold. The moonson would bring higher chances
of attaining gold ‘more than usual’, compared to the eastern monsoon. Since hard times came in a
continous cycle with the moonsons, so did the ownership of goods. At one time they might be able to
make payments on a loan for a motorcycle but at a different period they might need to re-release it
to secure capital. It was very rare that the process of acquiring ownership over significant assets could
be completed. There was one example of a family miner losing their motorcycle as they were unable
to pay back debts.
III. DISCUSSION
At the time of research, which was conducted during dry season, each household earned about $7.77
– $11.54 per day, which exceeded the daily expenses of $4.55. Thus,even though miners were in a
situation of hard times, their daily earnings were sufficient for meeting basic household needs.
However, this economic sufficiency, based upon paper calculationis, did not bear out in real life. It
seems that the cycle of money could not meet their needs. The miners generally did not open up to
outsiders regarding the amount of debts they had. The above economic calculations are only related
to the sufficiency of the most basic needs, and may not reflect other social costs (e.g. medical care,
house maintenance, weddings, funerals, emergencies, and importantly debts). People need more
than the basics of just food but require other consumer and necessary goods, such as motorbike for
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transportation. Moneylenders and patrons can become an immediate resource of emergency funds,
but cause miners to be entangled in debt relations. Furthermore, within the means of psychology,
gold mine can be referred to as a type of “gambling” as miners always feel that large gold nuggets can
be discovered, although this is usually the opposite. This is similar to a person becoming addicted to
gambling. As soon as miners have extra money, they can make gambling bets, or take risks by putting
a first payment for consumer goods assuming that extra money would soon be available with the
discovery of large gold nuggets. Such perception exists in most miners. Five years ago, one of the
miner groups obtained a gold nugget priced at $909, although none have been discovered thus far.
This is the main reason miners go into debt.
This was the case for one wife informant group. The concept of ‘sufficiency’ needs to be further
examined as other factors may come into play. As described, wives seek gold depending upon her
extended family schedule. Wives conducting mining activities would be able to accumulate earnings
for up to three days, as her domestic burden is taken by another household. However, when it is her
turn to take care of the other households of her extended family, she would spend a similar amount
as she received from mining. Therefore, the money received actually would be the same. Beyond this,
she consistently believes that the accumulated money over three consecutive days of seeking gold
would give her opportunities to put installment payments towards purchasing goods. In her case, the
money earned from the last three days could pay for the 2nd out of 36 installments for a motorcycle.
The miners at Bayah beach were socially poor and have little presence in the mind of others. They
attracted very little attention from other parties and a few people were interested and liked to talk
about their lives and activities. Among the structure of general small-scale gold mine, the Bayah
beach miners considered themselves ‘lower’, compared to other miners in the same region of West
Java, who largely mined from hard rock by digging tunnels (see Soemarwoto and Ellen, 2010) and who
were recognized to be braver, richer and more fortunate. It is generally known that no financiers
were willing to lend some money to beach miners due to less gold was produced. They were also
considered to be miners whom did not think with their brains (teu mikir). There was a visible
hierarchy amongst miners, with hard rock miners being the most respected and best compensated.
Several individuals in Bayah whom we interviewed in small shops consider small-scale gold miners as
people with unapproved social behaviour (teu alus) due to their way of life in camps. Such camps
were commonly accompanied by the developments of stalls, providing a variety of ‘entertainment’ of
which were not agreed upon by the general public, such as drinking, and in many larger sites,
prostitution.
The allocation of permits for exploiting mineral resources is managed by the Ministry of Energy and
Mineral Resources, Directorate Generale of Mineral and Coal (Minerba), and referred toas the permit
for peoples mining (Izin Pertambangan Rakyat). Miners are regulated according to the Indonesian
17
Minerba legislation number 4 year 2009. The legislation states that mineral and coal are unrenewable
energies depicting country wealth and are controlled by the state and should be used for the welfare
of its people. Referring to this legislation, obtaining a permit requires assessment and eligibility and is
issued by the bupati (head of regency) or city major.
However, the work of small-scale miners had often been permissioned by agencies other than
Minerba. These permits could be allocated by the police, military, government employees, or
powerful patrons in the areas. Legally, these agencies did not have authority for managing the
exploitation of minerals, although at the local level they had roles as they were locally powerful actors
who could decide many things within the society. The miners at Bayah beach had said that they could
continue to work on seeking gold because of the acknowledgement of the head of neighbour
association. No actions were or are being taken by the government regarding this matter.
Consequently, the government’s lack of action was perceived by the miners as a sign of approval.
IV. TOWARD A BETTER MANAGEMENT OF BAYAH BEACH MINERS
The Bayah case shows that it is important to analyse informal gold miners in their social and historical
contexts. In this case, Bayah beach miners should not only be discussed in terms of income and
expenses but also in other types of hazards they may encounter. Firstly, mercury, a necessity to
produce almagamate gold, is considerably harmful to human health and environment and local
miners are subjeted to daily skin contact.
Secondly, miners are vulnerable to financial exploitation. The miners inability to be self sufficient are
used as an advantage by other parties seeking income, such as the moneylenders.
Thridly, beach miners have to deal with social solicitude from a wider social environment. In Bayah
social communities, beach miners are amongst the lowest class in communities. Unfortunately, the
lower social status is reinforced in two ways: by people who look down upon them and by themselves
who believe they are of lower status.
The practice of gold mining in Bayah beach can not be stopped, but it needs to be regulated. It might
be helpful to understand that:
1. To effectively manage Bayah beach informal mining, it is important to obtain and have good
and accurate information regarding the miners, and not to make assumptions or assign negative
labels before understanding them. This is what Goffman (1963) refers to as a stigma; an inaccurate
label that can bring about negative consequences for the vulnerable parties.
2. To efectively regulate Bayah beach miners, it is necessary to consider the limited choices
they have in terms of livelihood. Before prohibiting the practice of small-scale mining, the
18
government are encouraged to provide realistic alternatives. These alternatives should allow miners
to think not only about their immediate risk – such as how to get food and pay debt – but also to
strategically plan in the long run, which in the end may release them from mining.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project has been made possible by the support of the Australian Research Council Linkage
Project. This report was written for the Australian National University represented by the Crawford
School of Public Policy for the ‘Going for Gold: Safe Livelihoods for Informal Miners in South and
Southeast Asia’ project. Special thanks to the people of Bayah who were willing to share their past
experiences and ideas, as without their help I would not be able to write this report. I would also like
to thank two of my research assistants Yudi Barkah and Deni Sambas, who were very patient in
accommodating to the research schedule. Last but not least, thanks to Bayu Soemarwoto for joining
at the research sites.
19
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