Indonesia tackles illegal mining boom amid gold rush
The miners usually work at open sites next to rivers, where they dig shallow pits in the hunt for deposits
West Tabir, Indonesia
HULKING excavators claw at riverbanks on Indonesia's Sumatra island in the hunt for gold, transforming what was once a rural idyll into a scarred, pitted moonscape.
It is one of a huge number of illegal gold mines that have sprung up across the resource-rich archipelago as the price of the precious metal has soared, luring people in rural areas to give up jobs in traditional industries.
Now, authorities in Sumatra's Jambi province, which has one of the biggest concentrations of illegal mining sites in Indonesia, have started a determined response, combining a crackdown with attempts at regulation.
Declines in the price of rubber, which provided a livelihood for many in the area who had worked on plantations tapping the commod…
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