Gag Island

The island's population is approximately 450 living at Gambier Bay.

This community was established in the early 1960s by people moving to the island in the hope of finding work with nickel exploration ventures at that time.

[1] In 1996 the PT Gag Nikel company was formed as a joint venture agreement between BHP (75%) and Indonesia's state-owned mining company, Aneka Tambang (25%).

A contract of work was awarded in February 1998, and a program of exploration and preliminary evaluation was conducted.

In late 1999, the Government of Indonesia enacted a forestry law prohibiting open cast mining in "protection forest" areas.