Mosaic of Stories Collected Around PTNNT

It was on my early college life that Kak Bayu told me some stories about PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara. Nope, he didn't worked in that company but he knew many stories about life inside PTNNT and life around the mining ring. Some of them are "The company pay high for photographers to take a picture of a small village like Maluk!" or "They have school inside" or "Maluk is expensive, I remembered which place has the most reasonable price to eat" or "It's very hot there more over in Concentrator. When we decide who will be in Condentrator, duh..." or "I sleep inside a container!" or "They label the menu, healthy or unhealthy. You choose". Some other story are about beautiful beaches around there like Tropical Beach or Maluk Beach and the story about 'bule-bule' love to surf there. And his story was a trigger to my eager to visit PTNNT.

When I went there as a participant of Newmont Sustainable Mining Bootcamp, I am very excited to see what Kak Bayu has told me before. About the company, about living around, and about the beaches.

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I met Pak Budi and Bli Gede. Photographer and Videographer of PTNNT. I didn't asked how high the company pay them but well, at least i found that it's true PTNNT really hire professional photographers! The first company that their core business isn't entertainment related and hire professional photographers i knew was PTNNT. 

On the 2nd or 3rd day of the Bootcamp, Melo, Afi, and I accidentally had breakfast in the same table with 2 teachers of Buin Batu school, a school for employees' kids who lived in the Town Site. This is also the first time I knew that teached can work for a mining company! (Under the school name of course). They told me a little about the school. It was elementary school and junior high with total of 700s students (if I wasn't mistaken). One of them also showed us how to smuggle bread out from the mess hall (since it's forbidden, there're sign written on the exit door but i didn't capture it) hahaha. 

Entrance of Tambora Mess Hall

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When we (Group 2 of Newmont Bootcamp) stayed at Bapak Arifin's house in Maluk, I found that Maluk is expensive like Kak Bayu told me. Bapak Arifin owns 'kos-kosan' which priced 1.5 mio per room per month. Whoa! That room has a bathroom inside, no air conditioner. My room in Menteng Atas, South Jakarta priced as the same with bathroom and air cond inside. Can you imagine that? Maluk has same expensive 'kosan' price as Jakarta! Whereas in my hometown, Singaraja (Bali) which is technically a city, much more crowded than Maluk and even has KFC, one big university, some cute cafes, more concrete building, but without mining of course, 'kosan' like that is only 400-500 K. Well, as I learned in product development class, price can be also determined by purchasing power of the targeted customer. And targeted customers of 'kosan' in Maluk are those comers who work for PTNNT who got living allowance if they are not living in the townsite (another info from Kak Bayu :p). And the allowance is much higher compare to price of 'kosan'. So, ya, they will take it of course.

Maluk in The Morning From Pak Arifin's House

But it's not only the 'kosan', i found that price of a pair of sandals is nearly 2 times higher there. A pair of sandal I used to buy for 30 K is priced 65K there. After some bargaining, i pay for 50K.  I knew that because I bought one. Someone took mine when I was changing my clothes in a public toilet in Maluk Beach after swimming and then I bought the new one in a shop right under Pak Arifin's House. (I think that was his place too, rented to be used as a shop hmm Pak Arifin must be very rich hehehe).

Maluk in The Morning...(2)

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We arrived in the Town Site when it's dark already so we just jump to our room because we're all very tired after those air-land-water-land long trip to reach this place. I did not notice how was the our building until the next morning. Our room was made from stacked container box. Pak Khun, a participant of Bootcamp describe it as "Sederhana, fungsional, gak kalah dengan hotel budget."

I remembered that every morning I left the room I always turned off the AC but in the evening I came back there the AC was always turned back. Then I realized that maybe it is because the rooms are made from container box which is made from metal. If the AC turned off, when we're back it will be as hot as hell and produce smell like an old sock. I came up with this thought after noticing an unused room left with the door closed but the window stayed opened...or maybe the window opened because the last person used it forget to close it? Nah, it's just my theory~ The point is that the room made of container. Offices building also made temporal with material that look alike the metal sheet used for container. No concrete as I noticed.

Our Rooms, T3

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In this paragraph I should end this post beautifully so people will come again to read follow through. But unfortunately, I am just a bad-skilled-for-making-a-good-ending-amateur-blogger. So, ya, i left the post here. Next post will be about the sexy beaches. 

Have a nice day!

Menteng Atas, 08.03.16

Kadek Dwika