The Need for Data Inventory of Ex-Mining Cultivated by the People

 

With the increasing prices and current needs of various mining commodities, some mineral commodities that previously had no economic value have become potential materials to be cultivated. This has resulted in several types of minerals in mining activity areas that were not previously cultivated, being re-excavated and processed.

Some ex-mining areas are being re-explored and left behind, both in-situ and in the form of tailings, are mined and processed to produce commodities of economic value. The potential of minerals in ex-mining areas can be determined based on consideration of the history of their termination, especially for reasons not due to the depletion of mineral resources/reserves. For mining activities that end with the remaining economically excavated materials, exploration data and production results are very important to be used as a basis for evaluating the remaining potential.

Mining activities that are carried out systematically have stages of implementing production operations starting from mining and processing that are systematic and measurable, and regularly documented, so that in the event of a mine termination it will be easier to locate the remaining resources. In ex-mining areas that are systematically managed by large-scale mining business actors, generally complete data is available starting from the exploration stage to production operations, so this data is very useful for assessing the potential of ex-mining areas.

Mining activities carried out by the community are generally not systematic, and tend to be random, so that the distribution of resources that are still left behind will be scattered irregularly. Ex-community mining areas are generally not supported by adequate data on exploration and production operations, so to determine the potential for lagging minerals, exploration must be carried out.

Ex-mining can have more profitable potential compared to areas where there is no mining activity. In ex-open pits, overburden has been stripped and removed, while in ex-deep mines, tunnels have been provided for mining.

In ex-open-pit mining areas, economically excavated minerals can be utilized without further digging, so that the process of extracting minerals will be easier. In the ex-deep mining area where it is still found tunnels for mining infrastructure, can be reused to reach the remaining minerals. The mineral commodities contained in the tailings can be utilized with a shorter series of mining and processing processes, especially for tailings stored near the surface. Tailings originating from excavated materials that were originally present at a certain depth, for mining, they must go through the stages of stripping the overburden, excavation and transportation, which are very influential to its economic value.