[1] Stanford University civil engineer Richard Meehan said that the mine's design is "almost certain" to result in a disaster due to the instability of the tailings dam.

[1] It was previously owned by West Perth company Herald Resources Inc.[6] In 1998, Dairi Prima Mineral was given a mining permit covering 24,000 hectares (59,000 acres).

[2] Since then, local villagers have raised concerns about the storage of explosives, the location of a tailings dam, the killing of fish and flash flooding, that occurred in 2018 allegedly as a result of mining activity.

[3] The 2022 report of the ombudsman “suggests shortcomings in the design of DPM’s tailings dam and assessment of associated risks compared with good international industry practice for the construction of such facilities, particularly considering the topographical, geological, seismic and climatological characteristics of the site.”[3][7] Advocacy group Bakumsu stated that it “is clear they [the government] are willing to sacrifice these communities’ safety to big business.”[3] After a series of Addenda to their Environmental Impact Assessment, in 2022, DPM were provided Environmental Approval for changes to their mine by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

In July 2023, the Jakarta Administrative Court released a verdict upholding the community complaint in its entirety, obliging the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to revoke DPM's Environmental Approval.