Jayapura`s Mt. Cycloops areas rich in nickel deposit

Jayapura (ANTARA News) - The Cycloops mountain range which stretches
from Jayapura city to a number of districts in Papua, sits on a huge
nickel deposit believed to be the biggest in the world, a local
official said.

"But the mining resource could not be exploited because the Cycloop
mountain range has been declared a natural conservation area by the
United Nations and is serving as a clean water source for the locals,"
Toto Purwanto, head of Papua`s Mineral Resources and Mining Office,
said here on Tuesday.

The Cycloops is the only one clean water source for the local people in
Jayapura city, Sentani and other districts in Jayapura, he said.

He said that the Cycloops also served as a buffer zone and a water catchment area when heavy rain fell.

"If the mining deposit of the area is to be exploited it will wreak havoc on the local people," Purwanto said.

The results of a geological survey suggests that the Cycloops mountain
range sit on at least 45 types of mining resource deposits which had
high economic potentials.

Purwanto did not mention the types of mineral resources, however.

But the mining resources of the area could not be exploited because it
served as the `heart` for the life of people in Jayapura city and
Jayapura district, he said. (*) END

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