INTERNATIONAL, RBTVDISWAY.ID - Indonesia is one of the world's largest gold reserves.
Ranked among the top 5, Indonesia's total gold reserves, according to 2020 records, amounted to 2,600 tons of Aurum (Au), accounting for 5 percent of the world's total gold reserves.
Furthermore, Indonesia is also the world's sixth-largest gold producer.
With a total gold mining production of 160 tons of Au in 2019, Indonesia plays a significant role as a global gold supplier.
After experiencing a period of fluctuation from 2018 to 2019, gold prices rose in 2020 due to increased demand during the pandemic.
The highest gold price in the past decade was recorded in August 2020, reaching US$2,004.5 billion per oz.
Citing data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) in 2020, Indonesia has gold ore resources of 14.96 billion tons, gold metal resources of 0.01 million tons, gold ore reserves of 3.56 billion tons, and gold metal reserves of 0.005 million tons.
In terms of gold ore reserves, here are the seven islands in Indonesia with the largest gold ore reserves and their mining companies.
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1. Papua
With gold ore reserves of 1,869 million tons, Papua accounts for 52 percent of the total gold ore reserves and is the largest in Indonesia.
The gold producers in Papua are PT. Freeport Indonesia and PT. Aneka Tambang, Tbk (ANTM).
PT. Freeport Indonesia's mine is located in Mimika and Paniai Regencies. PT. Freeport Indonesia has a mining area of 116,787.75 hectares (ha).
Meanwhile, ANTM's mine is located in Pegunungan Bintang Regency. This company has a recorded mining area of 49,920 hectares.
2. Sulawesi