Managnese mining in West Timor: Impacts and response opportunities

Nusa Cendana University

Artisanal and small-scale mining for development (Eastern Indonesia)

West Timor

• Typical landscapes of West Timor: hilly to mountainous, dry, and sparsely vegetated

• Long dry season (April-December) and short, but intense rainy season (January-March)

• Reliance on swidden agriculture as means of livelihoods

Manganese Mining: Opportunities, beneficiaries and typology of

mining practices

• Manganese mining as new opportunities for jobs and cash-income

• Beneficiaries include miners, land owners, OBAMAs (motorbike to transport manganese ore), brokers, and exporters

• Typology of manganese mining practices in West Timor: Miners-land owners-OBAMAs-brokers-exporters Miners-land owners-mining companies-exporters Miners-OBAMAs-brokers-exporters Miners-mining companies-exporters

Artisanal Mining Operations

• Mining involves the whole family: father, mother, children, and relatives

Erosion-Sedimentation • Local impacts:

Deep, stable mining pits serve to collect rainwater, hence slow down run off and collect soil for local tree seeds to germinate and grow

Shallow, unstable mining pits trigger erosion and landslides

• Potential downstream impacts: Sedimentation causes damage to

small dams and irrigation channels Sedimentation provides better

habitat for growth of weeds that cause damages to irrigation channels

Livelihood Impacts• Positive:

Creation of local jobs: miners, OBAMAs, truckers, intermediaries

Important source of cash income: improved capacity to fund basic needs (food, water and sanitation, adequate housing, basic education); but this positive impact is unequally distributed

• Negative: Social unrests and open conflicts:

between local communities and district forestry services, miners and land owners, between miners groups

Safety and health: injuries, deaths, and sickness

Social Impacts• Child labour: After school hours, mainly helping their parents• Accidents and deaths: many cases of accidents and deaths

(more than 50 cases of accidents and death in 2010)• Health: No reported health impacts yet, further research is

needed• Unrests and Conflicts:

Between local communities and district forestry services concerning degradation of protected forest

Between miners and land owners concerning access and right

Between miner groups concerning access to mining sites

Tilong Dam Case Study: Study Site

Tilong Dam Case Study: Methods

• Site: Desa Bokong• Site survey: 5 sites, Saenenu, Liunesi,

Fokuk, Oemenu, and Bilulut to measure size, depth, etc., of mining pits

• Erosion rate measurement: 7 sites to place pins in 10 m x 10 m grids at each site. Pins of 15-cm length were placed at each line crossing of the grid matrix

• Interviews with community leaders and members of the community involved in manganese mining

Tilong Dam Case Study: Method of erosion rate measurement

• Difficult to place pins in line with contour• Difficult to find back pins because instead of

being exposed, many pins being covered with soil

Tilong Dam Case Study:Results of erosion rate measurement

9 11 13 15 17 19 21 -

50

100

150

200

250

Rate Predicted Rate

Slope (%)

Rate

(ton

nes/

ha)

Site Rate (tonnes/ha)

Slope (%)

Vegetation

Liunesi1 225.53 11Woodland

Liunesi2 90.98 10Grassland

Bilulut1 126.58 21Woodland

Bilulut2 59.06 17Woodland

Oemenu 188.92 19Woodland

Fokuk 95.00 8Grassland

Sanenu 97.80 9Grassland

• Average of estimated erosion rate is 126.27 tonnes/ha• No significant relationship between rate of erosion and slope

(p=0.74523)

Tilong Dam Case Study:Site and vegetation types

River bed River bank Hill slope Alluvial plain

0

20

40

60

80

Grasslands Woodlands0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Tilong Dam Case Study:Pit measurement

• Total measured : 80 • Average depth : 118 cm• Average area : 466 cm2

• Average slope : 9.4 %

Tilong Dam Case Study: Community interviews

• Mining started in 2008 after a company from Singapore did a survey to locate manganese deposit sites in the village in 2005

• Mining was done by individuals without permit and manganese ore was purchased by the company

• The price was initially only Rp 300/kg in July 2008, but then became Rp Rp 600/kg in September 2008, Rp 1000/kg in 2010, and Rp 1400/kg in 2011

• Mining intensified since 2011 resulting in unrests and conflicts associated with land right

Tilong Dam Case Study: Tilong Dam Case Study: Impacts

• Improved livelihoods: cash income to pay tuition fees, build new houses, pay credit for motorbike, and pay daily expenses

• Unrests and conflicts associated with land right because mining was done by individuals while land right is by clans. Clans recognized for their land right in the village are Tunbonat, Hekemnasi, Hekemnoka, and Baitanu

• The conflict draws government attention and after negotiation with the community, mining was stopped in September 2014

Tilong Dam Case Study: Concerns on manganese mining impacts

Interviewees include village leaders, informal leaders, miners, and non-miners; distributed in proportion to sub-village population

Food insecurity

Child labour

Safety and health

Social unrests and conflicts

Environmental degradation

0 20 40 60 80 100

19

38

69

48

23

Harm Minimisation Options:Village and Stakeholder Workshop, 17-18 February 2015 • Formalization:

Legalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining since the moratorium policy has failed to reduce the ongoing unsustainable mining practices and illegal manganese ore trading

• Best practices:Improve mining practices by imposing better safety, health, and environmental protection regulations

• Rehabilitation:Require mining operations to cover post-operational rehabilitation by mandatory tree planting

Thank You

For further information, please contact:Ayu Nuban: ayunuban@gmail.com

Remi L. Natonis: remi.natonis@gmail.com