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Market:	AIM
Sector:	Gold Mining
News:	Latest news
Web Site:	KALIMANTAN GOLD
Other Articles:	11-11-200810-10-200829-09-2008

Report from the front line.

by Nick Cottam

The prospect of uncovering new evidence of a world class copper deposit is generating a period of intense activity at Kalimantan Gold?s Beruang Kanan exploration camp. With round the clock drilling and the closest possible co-operation between Kalimantan Gold and Oxiana geologists this is front line exploration in the raw: mapping, drilling, sampling and enthusiastic analysis.

The journey from Palangka Raya airport to the purpose-built landing strip at Beruang takes around 50 minutes by helicopter. Flying low over the seemingly endless forests of Central Kalimantan you quickly realize the remote nature of the destination. The alternative would be a boat trip and trek of more than two days in duration ? evidence, if any was needed, that any mineral find in this part of the world needs to justify some serious infrastructure development.

In terms of local decision making at least, we are soon to be reminded that Kalimantan Gold can boast some thing of a head start, working closely with villages surrounding the exploration area through a company-supported Foundation, Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta (YTS).

Meanwhile, our day and a half stay at Beruang Kanan provides plenty of insight into camp life. As our four person chopper disappears back to its base on the other side of the hill, we are left in the sticky morning heat, first to drink a reviving cup of Indonesian coffee and then, with our self-styled guide and senior Kalimantan Gold geologist, Mansur Geiger to the fore, to trek the short walk through to an open air drill core store. Here we are shown what is literally a three dimensional reference library of recently drilled core samples, strung out between the trees and all neatly categorized in carefully labelled boxes.

Poring over the samples is Oxiana exotic geologist James, recently arrived from the company?s Sepong Mine in Laos and faced with the task of finding more evidence of the super-sized copper porphyry that everyone believes is out there somewhere. Also around to greet us is senior Oxiana geologist on site, Andy Stewart, a larger than life character who is directing up to 4,500 metres of drilling as part of the first phase of the joint venture. With two rigs operating around the clock, Andy?s priorities are to keep the programme on track and keep a watchful eye on samples as they are brought to the surface.

After grabbing a quick lunch in the open air store ? rice from a thermos, chicken and slices of green shoot which sprout naturally by the river running below camp ? we begin an energy sapping uphill walk to the nearest drill site. Picking our way gingerly through the forest path we are greeted after about 20 minutes by a prominent health and safety sign, a clear warning that the men in hard hats are at work. This particular drill team ? about 10 men in total ? is working efficiently to extract the shaft after another successful intrusion. Based on a built for purpose wooden platform, they will complete the task before calling in the helicopter for another slick all equipment transfer to the next drill target.

While Kalimantan Gold?s Mansur Geiger is the first to admit the logistical challenge of a helicopter reliant operation like this, he also speaks with the confidence of someone who has spent years developing an intimate knowledge of the company?s Central Kalimantan prospects. With Geiger?s old hand know how and Oxiana?s sheer professionalism he has every reason to believe there is now a winning combination in the field.

Back at camp prior to our evening meal, we get first hand evidence of what is a tightly knit 70 strong community. A series of neatly constructed wooden cabins house the geologists, the drill teams and an array of support staff. From the geologists? bunk house at the top of the hill, complete with abundant wall charts, indoors tents and all purpose table, everything leads down to the river. Here we find a cool haven after the heat of the day, where the teams can wash, swim and generally unwind.

For the geologists at least, camp life is early to bed and early to rise. I am awoken soon after 6am as the floor is swept, a breakfast of cereal and powdered milk taken and a planning meeting started. Prior to our departure we sit in on a presentation from James who draws parallels between the exotic geology of Sepong and the rock formations of Beruang. If any was needed, it is another vindication of the current programme.

Targeting mercury
The Galangan Mining Concession, just outside the town of Kereng Pangi, looks more like the surface of the moon. Small scale artisanal mining has turned the area into a pock-marked desert with mine teams irrigating vast craters to scratch a living out of a minimum break even of 10 grammes of gold a day. As part of the process of extracting the gold they rely on mercury whose toxic properties have been the target of a recent YTS campaign which forms part of UNIDO?s Global Mercury Project.

After driving some way through the concession, we eventually park beside the diesel-engined extraction of yet another crater. Peering into the abyss we see the mining team working in the sludge some 40 feet below us; one man hosing the sand while his colleagues direct material through a well watered extraction pipe. Few would argue that this is a risky and uncontrolled operation, not only in the way material is extracted but also in the use of mercury for collecting the gold. Our YTS guides, including Bardolf Paul who heads up the Foundation, confirm that educating the mine teams on the safer use of mercury has been an important part of the programme.

More important still, we are told, are the gold shop owners who are our next port of call as we drive from the concession into the nearby town of Kereng Pangi. Thanks to the YTS campaign, the majority of gold shops in the town are now using special enclosed hoods in which they can burn off the mercury from the mercury and gold amalgam which is brought to them by the miners. With his children watching TV behind the counter, the gold shop owner we visit is more than happy to demonstrate the safer burning process which could capture up to 90% of the potentially harmful mercury which was previously going into the atmosphere. ?At only US$50 a hood, this is a low cost, affordable solution which can bring immediate health benefits to the local community,? Bardolf Paul tells us.

As they gather around us in the main street, the children of Kereng Pangi provide an emotive indication of just how important the YTS campaign could prove for the local population. If the gold shop owners play their part and YTS support continues to be available when it is needed then the potentially toxic effects of mercury could well become a thing of the past

A key factor, adds Bardolf Paul as we drive away from the town, is to secure follow-up funding for the project which has already proved more successful than any other of its kind. ?This will enable us to keep working with the gold shop owners and with the wider local community,? he says. ?Ideally we need bridge funding to maintain activities on the ground until the next phase of the campaign in 18 months time.?

Visit to Posu village

The following day (Thursday) we were outside our Rungan Sari hotel complex for a 5.30am pick-up and arguably the most epic excursion of the week. With the helicopter unavailable due to its Beruang work load we were to travel north from Palang Karia by boat up the Kahayan River, a distance of around 80 miles each way, to visit the remote riverside village of Tumbang Posu. Posu, as we shall call it, is another field project for YTS, this time as part of its role supporting villages close to Kalimantan Gold?s copper gold prospecting area in the region.

This was a journey that began at 80 horsepower break neck speed around every curve and corner of the winding waterway and ended 17 hours later in pitch darkness. In between and with plenty of stops for refreshments on the way we made it to our far flung destination, where we were hosted by what at times seemed like the whole village and shown the fruits of YTS work. After a meeting with senior villagers to discuss the project and its benefits to date, we were taken, first to a rubber nursery where a new variety of seed has been planted and is being tended collectively to produce stronger trees and ultimately a better yield. Villagers, we learnt, are also being taught how to tap mature rubber trees more productively and with a local YTS staff member in regular contact, the impression is that they are never short of either advice or momentum on the project.

From rubber, we move on to the pigs where we learn that earlier male castration and better husbandry is also helping to improve yields. Perhaps most important of all the villagers of Posu, like other villages in the region, have been working with YTS, to look more closely at their whole decision making structure and way of life as part of a Village Development Plan. ?The aim,? says Paul as we head back to the boat ?is to involve villagers in planning their own future. This in turn is helping them to link more successfully to government services and programs.?

 

 

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