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Assessment of Site Selection for Aluminum Mining Industry in West Kalimantan Province

Assessment of Site Selection for Aluminum Mining Industry in West Kalimantan Province

Denis Kusuma Dinata1*, Chafid Fandeli2, Yohannes Sardjono1,2

1
Institut Teknologi Yogyakarta 55171, Indonesia
2
Center for Accelerator Science and Technology National Nuclear Energy, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Aluminum is the most abundant metal mineral in the earth's crust.
Its existence in the bowels of the earth must be explored by
Aluminum mining industry
mining activities. As much as 90% of the world's bauxite
The assessment of site selection
reserves, which are the primary raw material for primary
Sustainable mining
aluminum, are concentrated as extensive sedimentary layers in the
tropics and sub-tropics, West Africa, Australia, South America,
and Southeast Asia. West Kalimantan Province is one of
Indonesia's tropical regions which has a total deposition of
bauxite resources of 2.07 billion tons, which is equivalent to
57.32% of the total bauxite resources in Indonesia. The issue that
must also be a concern at this time is the environmental problem
of the impact of natural resource exploration and how to create an
aluminum mining industry that is not only limited to economic
fulfillment but also environmentally sustainable. At present many
cases of mining in Indonesia contribute to local land, water, and
ecosystem damage. The assessment of the selection of the right
location to determine the clearance of the aluminum mining
industry in West Kalimantan in this paper will consider aspects of
ecology, water resources, population density, and post-mining
rehabilitation in order to achieve sustainable mining.

1. INTRODUCTION a large spread of bauxite deposits in the territory of

Aluminum is a relatively young metal but is now the
most-shipped for various needs in the construction,
transportation, packaging (cans, aerosols, foils, and
carbon) and in electricity sectors. To fulfill this
demand, the practice of mining continues. Mining
represents an important source of income worldwide
[1]. Primary aluminum will grow next on the market
for alumina and bauxite, which is also projected to
grow by 4%. Communities are getting richer,
increasing living standards and consumption levels
[2]. China currently represents more than 50% of the
demand for global primary aluminum and alumina
production and this demand is expected to increase
until 2030 [3], due to reduced demand for local
bauxite in China pushing the country.
Indonesia is one of the metal industry's strategic
sectors for aluminum in the form of bauxite ore.
Indonesia's total bauxite minerals resources are 3.61
tons and 1.26 billion tons of estimated reserves.
West Kalimantan has a high potential for the
development of the aluminum mining industry with

Corresponding author. Tel: +6287784414146
E-mail: d3niskusuma17@gmail.com
Indonesia. 2.07 billion tons of bauxite resources
were recorded, equivalent to 57.32% of the total
bauxite resources in Indonesia [4].
The potential of bauxite resources in the mining and
quarrying sectors can support economic growth in
West Kalimantan, but it’s only contributed 5.6% of
the economic sectors in 2016. This can be
maximized in line with the regulation "Law No. 4 of
2009 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining," that
starting in 2014 raw minerals are prohibited from
being exported and must be processed domestically.
The main factors considered during the process of
selecting the location for the aluminum mining
industry in West Kalimantan are generally financial,
environmental, geological, land use and security
factors. These factors are combined together to
avoid potential losses. Some of the environmental
factors are soil, air, and water pollution, forest
destruction, etc. [5]. This paper will review the
assessment of aluminum production mine sites
which are focused on environmental factors, namely
ecology, water resources, population, and post-
mining land rehabilitation.
 Assessment of Site Selection for Aluminum2Mining Industry in West Kalimantan Province
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 Distribution of Bauxite Ore Minerals in
Indonesia
Bauxite ore is formed in the tropics and
subtropics that allows rock weathering. Bauxite is
formed from sedimentary rocks which have a
relatively high Aluminum (Al) content, low iron
(Fe) levels and little or no contained Quartz (SiO2).
Indonesia is one of the tropical countries that has a
very large deposit of bauxite ore The Indonesian
bauxite mineral is mainly located in the Riau,
Bangka and Belitung Islands, West Kalimantan, a
small part in Central Kalimantan, Southeast
Sulawesi, Sumba and the Halmahera Islands [4].
It is known that the measured content of bauxite
ore spread across Indonesia was 828,289,086 tons
and the proven reserves were 330,359,053 tons in
2018, while the measured content of bauxite ore in
Indonesia in 2016 was 602,248,630.18 tons and
proven reserves were 211,392,968 tons. This data
indicates that many bauxite ore minerals have not
yet been recorded [4].
The province of West Kalimantan includes the
largest distribution area of bauxite ore deposits,
with total bauxite resources of 2.07 billion tons,
equivalent to 57.32% of the total bauxite resources
in Indonesia. The total bauxite reserves are 0.84
billion tons, equivalent to 66.77% of the total
national mineral reserves [4]. The spread of bauxite
in West Kalimantan forms a Lateritic Belt covering
9 regencies and cities, namely Singkawang City,
Bengkayang Regency, Pontianak Regency, Landak
Regency, Sanggau Regency, Sekadau Regency,
Kubu Raya Regency, North Kayong Regency,
Ketapang Regency. Its spread extends from north
to south on the west side of West Kalimantan
Province [3].
2.2 Exploration of Sustainable Bauxite Mining
The exploration of bauxite minerals is generally
extracted by open-pit mining, consisting of several
stages, witch are site preparation, mining, mineral
processing, transportation of raw materials to
refineries, dan mine land cover or neglect. In
sustainable bauxite mining, there are additional
stages to maintain ecological sustainability, namely
relocating vegetation and land which still has the
potential to become a resource at the post-mining
rehabilitation stage. The method used usually
depends on the location, and the steps that can be
taken are as follows [3]:
1. Clean the land from vegetation and save useful
wood;
2. Collect seeds, seedlings, and cuttings, which can
be used for revegetation;
3. Take the topsoil (and sometimes also the subsoil)
to be used in rehabilitation, either by transferring
land or by future use);
4. Take overburden (the layer between soil and
bauxite);
5. Break down bauxite using methods such as ripping
with very large bulldozers, and in some cases drilling
and blasting;
6. After the bauxite becomes smoother, put it in a truck
or conveyor, it will need processing or stockpiling.
Purification can be improved and is a relatively simple
process that includes increasing the grade of bauxite
through the disposal of unused material (waste) through
filtration, destruction, washing and dewatering. This
process produces higher-grade ore products and tailings
(mainly clay and fine sand);
7. Transport the bauxite to alumina refineries; and
8. After the transportation is complete, the affected area
is rehabilitated.
2.3 Geographical Conditions of West Kalimantan
2.3.1 Land and water
The Province of West Kalimantan has an area of ±
14,730,700 ha, ± 8,389,600 ha of which is a forest area
consisting of natural reserve and conservation areas
covering ± 1,621,046 ha, protected forest with an area of
± 2,310,873 ha, production forest limited to ± 2,132,398
ha, ordinary production forest with an area of ±
2,127,365 ha and conversion production forest with ±
197,918 ha [6]. The province of West Kalimantan also
has many rivers, so it is nicknamed the Thousand River
Province. The Kapuas River is the largest and longest
river in Indonesia that passes through the Districts of
Kapuas Hulu, Sintang, Sanggau, Sekadau and Pontianak
with a length of 1,086 km. Kubu River is the shortest
river at 38 Km in Kubu Raya Regency [7].
2.3.2 Population
Sustainable mining comprises many issues, such as
establishing transparent relationships with communities
as a fundamental metric for investment decisions [8].
Based on data from the population department, the
record of the population of West Kalimantan in semester
2 of 2018 was 5,422,814 people with an area of 146,807
Km2, the population density in West Kalimantan is
around 37 people per Km2. The highest population for
each regency or city in West Kalimantan is Pontianak
City, Kubu Raya Regency, Sambas Regency, Ketapang
Regency, Sanggau Regency, Sintang Regency, and
Landak Regency. 5 of the 7 regencies and cities with the
highest population are traversed by lateritic belts which
contain a lot of bauxite ore deposits.
2.4 Alumina Process
Bauxite is a source of aluminum metal after
extraction by the Bayer process to produce alumina.
About 85% of bauxite is purified into alumina (or
alumina chemicals), which is then melted into
aluminum, 8% produces alumina chemicals and 7% is
used for abrasive materials, refractories, propellants and
in cement production [3]. Depending on the grade of ore,
it takes 4-6 tons of bauxite to be purified to 2 tons of
alumina, which is then melted into approximately 1 ton
of aluminum metal. Bauxite has a good quality in terms
of high alumina content and low reactive silica content,
which contains at least 40% alumina and <5% reactive
silica [9]. The content of reactive silica in bauxite should
be low because it will react with sodium hydroxide from
liquor (at least 1 mole of NaOH per mole of reactive

Assessment of Site Selection for Aluminum Mining Industry in West Kalimantan Province
silica). Alumina refining transforms bauxite ore to
calcined alumina (Al2O3). This extraction method,
known as the Bayer process, has a progressive series of
steps: crushing of the ore, digestion in sodium hydroxide
solutions, clarification to remove solid waste materials,
precipitation of solid hydrated alumina, and calcination
to drive off water. The amount of reactive silica is one of
the major factors that determine the quality and price of
ore [10].
Most bauxite mining companies in Indonesia have
been already implementing methods of washing by wet
screening in trommel screen and vibrating screen after
crushing the ore. Yield of the washed bauxite is between
40-50%. The rest (50-60%) is rejected as tailing. (In
India, more than 40% of the bauxite ore is rejected as
low-grade tailing. In terms of energy utilization, this
process is inefficient and wasteful due to high water
consumable [9].
3. DISCUSSION
During the process of opening and developing mining
industry projects, whatever decisions are made take into
account a number of considerations, likewise in the
assessment of the choice of the location where the
business will operate. A comprehensive approach to
consider environmental carrying capacity and post-
mining rehabilitation involves the analysis of these
drivers to be balanced to achieve a sustainable mining
industry.
3.1 Ecological capability of the region
Generally, environmental elements consist of abiotic and
biotic, and the relationship of both is very significant.
Mining interactions are closely related to land and forest
areas. Opencast mining causes much greater degradation
to land than underground mining [11].
The ecological footprint of bauxite mines (especially
open-pit mining) and the fact that these mines are
generally found in tropical and sub-tropical regions
means that aluminum ore deposits often overlap or are
close to areas of high conservation value [3].
The use of forest areas for development purposes outside
forestry activities can only be done for activities that
have inevitable strategic objectives [12]. West
Kalimantan is a strategic economic area with 4,457,681
ha of the aluminum mining industry with a cultivation
forest area. Such forest exploitation activities must have
effective mitigation to reduce contributions to
biodiversity, which is the key to sustainability [3].
3.2 Water Resources
Water is also an important component in all bauxite
mining activities [3]. Indonesia will be counted as a
bauxite-producing country after owning a CGA
processing plant owned by PT ICA and SGA owned by
PT ANTAM. The existence of these two factories helped
Indonesia to diminish loss because of exporting raw
bauxite. In the manufacture of alumina, there is a Bayer
process which produces a solution of red mud and
3
sodium aluminate. The sodium aluminate solution is
used to make alumina [13]. In the process, washing
bauxite ore consumes a lot of water, so water
management must be carried out carefully. West
Kalimantan has 51 lakes and 8 large rivers which can be
a great potential for water resources in the mining
process. Sustainable aspects must avoid, or at least
minimize the amount of turbid water left by mining sites
through effective sediment control efforts [14].
3.3 Population
The distribution of the bauxite extends from north to
south on the west side of Kalimantan in West
Kalimantan province. Fig.1 shows the Lateritic Belt
region that is rich in sediment deposits from bauxite ore
through densely populated districts/cities include
Pontianak City, Kubu Raya District, Ketapang Regency,
Sanggau Regency, and Landak Regency [4].
Fig. 1 Lateritic Belt in West Kalimantan
At the same time mining activity can bring positive
things to the local community, provide business
opportunities and create jobs directly or indirectly. Land
acquisition and population displacement are rare issues
in bauxite mining, in fact, the economic movement is a
major issue for companies concerns, especially those
who depend on the land. Therefore, planning must start
early. Companies must really engage with affected
communities to review and mitigate the important
impacts of land-use change and the possibility of
transferring communities to jointly develop resettlement
action plans with local governments [3].
3.4 Rehabilitation of Mining Areas
The continuing mining activities unavoidably result in
the loss of original soils and a large volume of the
tailings dam, which will inevitably change the landscape
of the local environment. Although open-pit mining and
underground mining damage the land in different ways,
the damage to the surface landscape by open-pit mining
is greater than that of underground mining, which can
cause irreversible changes in the mining area, even
turning mountains into artificial lakes [15]. All these
issues stress the need to consider how land reclamation
 Assessment of Site Selection for Aluminum4Mining Industry in West Kalimantan Province
can be performed in conjunction with the creation of
sustainable livelihood opportunities for communities
living in surrounding areas[16]. the reclamation can be
started by returning topsoil that has been separated in the
sustainable mining stage which contains a lot of organic
elements that can be combined with revegetation from
seeds that had been removed previously [17].
5. CONCLUSION
In terms of the resources and potential
possessed by West Kalimantan, the aluminum
mining industry can make it a center of excellence
based on bauxite minerals. Therefore West
Kalimantan is considered to have very high
potential in the national mining industry. Mining
practices continue to prioritize seeing ecological
potential in the province of West Kalimantan that is
rich and has a reduced impact on the environment.
In realizing this, the support of all parties and
relevant stakeholders starts from the government
with related regulations, the role of the community
as local residents, and the role of the company in
supporting the realization of mining in the
aluminum industry that is economically sound and
environmentally friendly.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We sincerely thank to Prof. Ir. Yohannes Sardjono,
APU and PSTA BATAN for providing the facilities
needed for this study and to all staff members who
helped carry out this assessment.
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