Jakarta, 29 September 2020 – PT Agincourt Resources (PTAR), the operator of the Martabe Gold Mine in Batangtoru, South Tapanuli won three awards at the Award for Good Mineral and Coal Mining Engineering Practice of 2020 which was held by the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tuesday, 29 September 2020. In addition to winning the awards from the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal, PTAR also won the Best Exploration Commitment award for the category of mineral mining companies at the Indonesia Association of Geologists (IAGI) Exploration Awards of 2020 which was held on the same day face-to-face and virtually, in Jakarta.
At the event organized by the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, PT Agincourt Resources won one Utama (silver) Award for the category of Mineral Mining Environmental Management (for Contract of Work Permit Holders), as well as two Pratama (Bronze) awards for the category of Mineral Mining Safety Management & Mining Standardization and Service Business Management. These awards were presented virtually.
Director Operations of PT Agincourt Resources, Darryn McClelland expressed his gratitude to the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for the appreciation given by assessing the efforts to implement good mining practice, especially in environmental aspects, occupational safety, and mining business service standardization at the Martabe Gold Mine. According to Darryn, specifically for the environmental aspect, environmental management planning at the Martabe Gold Mine was initiated even before the project started, namely by implementing a comprehensive environmental monitoring program and various environmental impact studies. Several scopes of environmental management in the operation of the Martabe Gold Mine include water management, waste management, land rehabilitation, and protection of biodiversity. “The company maintains the achievements of effective environmental compliance management in 2019. The company complied with laws and regulations on environment and there were no incidents of environmental non-compliance throughout 2019,” said Darryn.
Likewise, in terms of occupational safety aspects, the Martabe Gold Mine always strives to improve health and safety performance in accordance with best practices in the mining industry. “We are fully committed to prioritizing occupational health and safety in our daily operations and continuing to achieve zero accidents and incidents in the workplace,” said Darryn. Meanwhile, regarding the award for the category of Mining Service and Business Standardization Management, PTAR has the policy to support local suppliers, particularly regarding the purchase of goods and services while still considering the cost and fulfillment of quality. At the end of 2019, PTAR recorded that it had 776 active suppliers, of which 100 or 13% were local suppliers (an increase from 9% in 2018).
The award for the Achievement of Good Mineral and Coal Mining Engineering Practice is held for the first time in 2020. But the history of the awards goes back a long time. Mineral and Coal Mining Safety Management Achievement Award has been held since 1992, Mineral and Coal Mining Environmental Management Achievement Award has been held since 2004, Mining Service Business Management Achievement Award has been held since 2018, while Mineral and Coal Mining Technical Management Achievement Award and the Mineral and Coal Conservation Management Achievement Award just started this year.
According to the Director-General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ridwan Djamaluddin, the purpose of the Award for Good Mineral and Coal Mining Engineering Practice is to encourage and motivate the Technical Mine Managers / Kepala Teknik Tambang to attain the highest achievement in Mining Technical management, Mining Safety Management, Mining Environmental Management, Conservation Management and Mineral and Coal Mining Standardization and Services Business..
The Mineral and Coal Mining Safety and Environmental Management Award activities are divided into several stages, namely the initial or administrative assessment stage, then the field verification or evaluation stage and the third stage which is the final assessment or evaluation. This assessment involved Mine Inspectors and experts from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health – Faculty of Public Health of the University of Indonesia (UI), Faculty of Forestry of IPB, Environmental Research Centre of IPB, Mine Reclamation Study Centre of IPB.
Meanwhile, in the award of the IAGI Exploration Awards of 2020 which was held for the first time this year, PT Agincourt Resources was awarded the Best Exploration Commitment award for the mineral commodity sector. This category is viewed from the exploration plan versus the realization of exploration activities as evidenced by the Work Plan and Budget (RKAB) data, the period of continuous exploration activities, and an increase in the exploration stage. In this event, PTAR was also nominated for the Best People Development and Best Discovery categories.
Photo 1: Senior Manager Corporate Communications of PT Agincourt Resources, Katarina S. Hardono while delivering a virtual speech on the award won at the IAGI Exploration Awards of 2020, Tuesday, 29 September 2020.
Senior Manager Corporate Communications of PT Agincourt Resources, Katarina Siburian Hardono stated that it was an honor for PTAR to receive this award. “Thank you to the judges and IAGI who have entrusted this award to us. This is an honour and a trigger and also encouragement for us to continue to be committed and responsible for improving our exploration performance in the future,” said Katarina. “On behalf of the management of PT Agincourt Resources Martabe Gold Mine, we also wish IAGI a Happy 60th Anniversary, we hope that the association will progress in its work, and wish to extend our highest appreciation for this award.”\
The chairman of IAGI, Sukmandaru Prihatmoko, said that this award was intended to give appreciation to companies that explore geo-resources in the country. “This award is expected to maintain the company’s commitment to natural resource exploration activities in Indonesia so as to encourage the discovery of new reserves and maintain the stability of mineral and coal, oil and gas, and geothermal resources balance,” said Sukmandaru.
In the first IAGI Exploration Awards of 2020, there are six award categories including 6 nominations, namely: Best People Development, Best Exploration Commitment, Exploration Largest Expenditure, Best Technical and Innovative Discovery, Best Discovery, and Best Service Company. These awards are given to exploration companies and exploration service companies which are grouped based on four commodities, namely Mineral, Coal, Geothermal and Oil and Gas. The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif, in his virtual speech expressed his gratitude to IAGI, in the midst of the pandemic, the association remains highly committed to developing the energy and mineral resources sector. According to Arifin, although in recent years the total cost of exploration in Indonesia is still low globally, there has been an increase in exploration costs in 2019. “To encourage the development of natural resources and increased investment in energy and minerals, particularly exploration activities, the government strives to continuously improve the investment climate and also listen to the aspirations of various elements of communities, entrepreneurs and experts in the field of energy and mineral resources,” said Arifin.
Vice President Director & CEO of PT Agincourt Resources, Tim Duffy welcomes a number of awards the company has received. According to Tim, this appreciation is the fruit of the hard work of the Martabe team which is based on the foundation of GREAT Martabe’s core values to maintain performance, for the company growth with the support of all stakeholders. “Congratulations to Martabe Team,” said Tim.
Photo 3: PT Agincourt Resources won the Best Exploration Commitment award for a mineral commodity company, at the IAGI Exploration Awards of 2020, Tuesday, 29 September 2020.
