Nam Salu is the location where tuffaceous sediments are called layers of iron rich tuffaceous sedimentary which is rich in tin. The significance geological feature of the Nam Salu hard rock tin deposit can be identified from the mineral and structure parameters.
Accessibility: 42km (50 minutes) from Hanandjoedin airport. Vehicles can only reach the foot of Mount Kik Karak and visitors must walk a steep path up as far as about 400 m to arrive at the Nam Salu Open Pit.
The former tin mining crater exposes several sedimentary rocks, namely red sandstone, quartz and metamorphic rock, rocks spanning the Permo-Carboniferous era.
Tin mining activities in Kelapa Kampit and Kik Karak Mountain are called ‘open holes’ because this method of mining involves opening up massive, volcano crater-like holes, after which further horizontal and vertical tunnels are dug in. According to locals, 9 levels of underground mining sites were created during its active period.
Such mining activities began when significant tin resources were discovered at Kik Karak Mountain. The Australian mining corporation BHP (1971-1985) then conducted a massive digging operation forming a large crater atop Mount Kik Karak.
In addition to the former mine, the geosite is also culturally significant; it is located near an ancestral site of the Kampit community, Kik Karak, which is revered by both the local and ethnic Chinese population.
Tarsier (Chepalopachusbancanus saltator) can also be observed here alongside other unique organisms such as various types of Nepenthes sp. (Kantong Semar in standard Indonesian or Ketakongin in local language). Visitors can also experience the prisitine forest ecosystem at the peak of Mount Kik Karak.