The mining and processing of gold ore results in environmental damage, such
as damage to land due to the construction of mining pits, the risk of work
accidents during the mining process because it still uses traditional and
improper methods, as well as pollution, both ground, surface and underground
water. This pollution is caused by the use of mercury (Hg) as a chemical for
the process of separating gold ore from mined rock. The determination of
community gold mining activities as illegal has a temporary impact on existing
gold mining activities in the form of terminating mining activities. However,
over time and the community's need for income caused the community to be
reckless to carry out mining activities illegally even though the community
already understood the risks that would be faced later. Therefore, to overcome
this problem, it is necessary to conduct research on the extent to which law
enforcement against gold mining activities without permits is carried out and
how to overcome existing pollution so that the risk of environmental damage
can be suppressed and controlled. This legal research is an empirical legal
research that focuses on social facts, and the data were colleected through
interviews and literature study. The conclusion of this research is that the law
enforcement efforts have not been carried out optimally but several preventive
and repressive efforts have been made and law enforcement has not been
maximized due to obstacles such as the lack of socialization carried out by the
Lebak Regency Environmental Agency to the community.