In 1993, I visited the Pangkut area of Borneo (Kalimantan, Indonesia) to examine the gold potential for the mining and exploration company that I was working for in the US. One of the geologists with me was Casey Danielson. The area has long been an home to many Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) for centuries. The Dutch colonized the Indonesia in the 1600's and 1800's. The islands were often referred to as the Spice Islands.
The mining is placer, hydraulic and shallow underground mining (shafts and adits). The gold is recovered by panning, stamp mills and with the use of mercury. In 2008, the estimated production from Kalimantan 13.3 tonnes of gold (426,000 troy ounces) by 43,000 small-scale miners (Stapper, Daniel, 2011, Artisanal Gold Mining, Mercury and Sediment in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia: MSc, University of Victoria). [Thesis is available on-line]
The photos in the following are from the trip in 1993. It is reminiscent of mining in the early gold rush days in California.
