Indonesia: Gold Mining's Threat To Tourism In Lombok

THE Indonesian island of Lombok is yet to become Bali's nemesis as a tourist destination, but locals have found there are other ways to make a buck. 


Gold fever has gripped parts of the island, particularly the southwest peninsula of Sekotong, transforming areas prized by many Australians for their superb surfing and scenery into hotbeds of discontent and environmental disaster.
Over lunch, served poolside at Cocotinos Resort, the only luxury destination in Sekotong, there's scant evidence all is not well.
Dubbed an eco resort, it is encircled by pristine white sand beaches, verdant rolling hills, coconut groves and development torpor. Such is life on Lombok, a paradise in waiting.
Foreign guests tuck into fresh salads, hamburgers and seafood, unaware that the produce is not from the crystal-clear waters in which they were recently diving, or from the lush vegetation or the local animals. 
Resort owner T. M. Wong whispers conspiratorially: 'We are not buying local produce, as a protection for clients. We get food and water from Mataram (Lombok's capital) or Bali." The coral reef, a stone's throw away, has also faded from a rich, brilliant hue to a bleached aberration.
Of paramount concern is the threat of mercury contamination in water, soil and food as locals engage in rampant small-scale illegal goldmining using toxic processing methods. Mercury, used to extract gold from the rock, causes neurological disorders, trembling and fever, and produces shocking deformities in children.
But with no regulations, nor education on the dangers, the toxic substance is vaporised or dumped, along with other mining waste including cyanide, on to land or into rivers and then flushed into the sea.
Since 2008 the gold rush has been driving once sleepy villages in Sekotong. Government attempts to stop illegal miners have been ignored, while hundreds have died in collapsing mines and landslides. Earning up to $200 a day, the new rich earn substantially more than the few dollars they picked up as fishermen or farmers.
Clashes with police, the military and mining companies -- with corrupt officials fuelling resistance -- are common; this week on neighbouring Sumbawa island police shot dead two locals protesting over the Australian Arc Exploration gold mine.