Advisability Analysis of Gold Exploration Based on Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (Case Study: Banyuwangi Regency)

Economically, gold is a mining material that is widely enjoyed by the community and used as jeweleries, cosmetics, currency blends, and investment media. Banyuwangi Regency is one of the regions in Indonesia which has potential of gold resources by proving that there are several gold mining companies that have been managed since 2004. It is designated as a Metal Mineral Mining Area and a State Reserved Area by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources. This study aims to analyze and identify the advisability of gold exploration activities in Banyuwangi Regency. The method used in this study uses scoring and weighting method and combines using overlay method on land cover data and the potential gold mineral distribution data. The results of this study are in form of regional distribution which has the advisability of gold exploration and in accordance with the Mining Area Map by the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources. Areas worthy of being explored in gold and in accordance with maps of mining areas are scattered in the Districts of Pesanggaran, Siliragung, Glenmore, and Kalibaru. The area which has the largest area of exploration advisability results is in Pesanggaran subdistrict, which is an area of 44,894 hectares.