INDONESIA

Exploration in Indonesia

Mining exploration in Indonesia has also shifted towards high-tech, digital-first methods to overcome the challenges of dense tropical terrain and deeply buried deposits.  Companies are leveraging remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and advanced geophysics to increase discovery rates for critical minerals like gold, nickle, copper, and rare earth elements.

 

Key Exploration Areas 

• Sulawesi: This region is the premier target area due to its vast reserves of gold, nickle, cobalt and rare earth elements.

• Kalimantan: Traditionally a major coal mining area but is now pivoting towards aluminum and high-value minerals.

• Papua: This area boasts of one of the world's largest copper and gold deposits.  It also has high quality bauxite reserves but exploration faces significant logistical challenges due to the remote terrain.

• Bangka: The global center for tin mining is now a target for rare earth elements as well as extraction rare earth elements from tin by-products.

 

Key Exploration Technologies

• UAV and Drone Mapping: Drones equipped with LiDAR, multispectral imaging, and high-definition magnetic sensors provide data up to seven times clearer than traditional aircraft surveying.  This allows geologists to identify faults and mineral structures through thick vegetation more efficiently.
• 3D Deep Induced Polarization: This geophysical technique can "see" up to 800 meters below the surface.  It has been particularly successful in Indonesia for finding deep porphyry deposits if copper and gold that surface-level methods miss.

• Enhanced Resolution: By moving from 30 meter resolution ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) to 3 meter resolution VW3 (WorldView 3) allows for the mapping of small, high-grade upwelling zones and structural features that were previously too small to be seen from space.