Illegal gold mining continues in Indonesia’s Aceh despite government crackdown pledge

Two weeks after Aceh's top government and police officials vowed to shut down illegal gold mining by Indonesia's Aug. 17 independence day, residents near known mining sites say excavators, fuel deliveries, and worker shelters are still there. Community members in Nagan Raya, South Aceh, and Pidie districts describe diesel shortages caused by mining equipment and tarpaulin camps still standing weeks past the supposed cutoff.

Walhi, Indonesia's largest environmental group, says its research found over 23,000 hectares of forest damaged by illegal mining from 2023 to 2025, with 45% of that in protected forest and over 1,000 pieces of heavy equipment identified. The group is calling for asset freezes on financiers and prosecution, arguing that cutting fuel, mercury, and equipment access would cripple the operations.

The mining uses mercury and cyanide, both banned under the announced crackdown and under Indonesia's commitments to the international Minamata Convention, yet both remain in wide use. Authorities have seized several tons of mercury this year even as the practice continues, and Walhi estimates dozens of miners have died in neighboring West Sumatra.

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