- Author : Theo Van Leeuwen
- Publisher: Masyarakat Geologi Indonesia
- ISBN: 978-979-8126-34-5
This book describes the history of mineral exploration and discovery in Indonesia over the last 25 years (1993-2017). During this period ('Period II') porphyry copper-gold, high- to low-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver, nickel laterite, and bauxite were the main deposit types targeted. Several other styles of mineralisation were found, including sediment-hosted gold, orogenic gold, SEDEX and MVT zinc-lead, and polymetallic VHMS.
Exploration took place in four stages: Phase II-1 (1993-19999) witnessed the biggest exploration boom in the country's history, fueled largely by higher metal prices, the Grasberg and Batu Hijau discoveries, and the Busang fraud; Phase II-2 (2000-2005) was a time of limited exploration activity due to adverse politico-economic events, and Busang having been exposed as the largest hoax in world mining history; Phase II-3 (2006-2013), which coincided with the super commodity cycle, focused exclusively on brownfield exploration with nickel laterite and bauxite topping the target list; Phase II-4 (2014-2017) represented another bust, mirroring a worldwide downturn in exploration activity, exacerbated by the implementation of unfavourable legislation. Following a summary of the regional tectonic and metallogenic setting of Indonesia, case histories are presented for 58 moderate-, large- and giant-size deposits discovered in Period II, describing how they were discovered and subsequently explored.
