Because of main activities done by mining companies, many people believe and even judge mining company as nature destroyer. In relation with preserving the nature, there is nothing good people can expect from a mining company. This is a common belief spread among people throughout the time. However, time has changed and there are so many new things that people still should not understand from mining activities. People has understood how mining activities can drastically affect the nature and society around the mining area. In order to protect the nature from any further and irresponsible mining activities, Indonesia government finally ratified a law about preserving nature.
Since the first time it was published, some mining companies issued their objections because they thought that this will affect their production effectiveness. This is because beside reclamation cost they should spend, now they should spare another profit they have to build integrated system of nature preservation inside the mining area. This is a special area where they should keep top soil they extracted before starting any mining activities, tree species they cut and stuffs like those.
From so many mining companies in Indonesia, Bukit Asam Mining company is just one company which has applied advanced reclamation technology in order to protect local nature, especially when the company realized that there are some local specimens which can’t be found outside the place they’re going to exploit.
As you can see from the picture, it is a special place inside mining area of Bukit Asam Mining Company where some tree species kept and developed so after all mining activities ended and the company starts the reclamation program, all trees are ready to be planted and in good condition. Even though it looks like everyone can do this ‘easy’ task, it is totally not as easy as it looks because there are so many tree species you should concern with their own physical characteristics. Working in ecological division like this means that you should have vast knowledge and experience in understanding plants as well as soil where they will be planted and live after all ground mining activities ended.
As you can see from the picture, the only color you can see is green which means there is no single spot you can find from the picture which shows you that there are mining activities done there. For mining companies, this is a very good result from their ecological division because it will show everyone that mining companies are not as bad as they think, at least until today. There are many good things mining companies can do, beside exploiting the mother nature and take all of its resources. There is something good which people can get from mining companies: nature preservation, even though it may need some time before people can see the result. At least, we have one clear answer for this from mining companies in Indonesia. The answer is that before the companies finishes their mining activities, the land will become green again.
/// Written by Melisa Natasha Mumek, Indonesia
