The document summarizes research on artisanal manganese mining in West Timor and its impacts. It finds that while mining provides income opportunities, it can also cause environmental degradation through erosion and sedimentation. Mining activities have led to social issues like conflicts between miners and land owners as well as safety concerns. A case study of the Tilong Dam area shows mining pits cause erosion of over 126 tonnes/ha on average and have improved livelihoods but also caused land conflicts. Stakeholders expressed concerns about food insecurity, child labor, health and safety issues, and environmental degradation from mining. Workshops discussed formalizing mining, improving practices, and requiring rehabilitation.

1. Managnese mining in West Timor:
Impacts and response
opportunities
Nusa Cendana University
Artisanal and small-scale mining for development (Eastern Indonesia)

2. 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

3. 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

4. Artisanal Mining Operations
• Mining involves the whole family: father, mother,
children, and relatives

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Tilong Dam Case Study:
Study Site

9. 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

10. 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

11. Tilong Dam Case Study:
Results of erosion rate measurement
-
50
100
150
200
250
9 11 13 15 17 19 21
Rate(tonnes/ha)
Slope (%)
Rate Predicted Rate
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)

12. Tilong Dam Case Study:
Site and vegetation types
0
20
40
60
80
River bed River bank Hill slope Alluvial plain
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Grasslands Woodlands

13. Tilong Dam Case Study:
Pit measurement
• Total measured : 80
• Average depth : 118 cm
• Average area : 466 cm2
• Average slope : 9.4 %

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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
19
38
69
48
23
0 20 40 60 80 100
Food insecurity
Child labour
Safety and health
Social unrests and conflicts
Environmental degradation

17. 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

18. Thank You
For further information, please contact:
Ayu Nuban: ayunuban@gmail.com
Remi L. Natonis: remi.natonis@gmail.com