Indonesia remains relatively unexplored by modern methods. The great expectations created by the rush of companies taking up Contracts of Work over large areas during the epithermal gold/ring-of-fire boom (1985-7) have not been fulfilled. This is not necessarily a reflection on the prospectivity of Indonesia; on the contrary, many of the hopeful companies were,, under-staffed and under-financed to overcome the physical and logistic problems of exploring virgin jungle._x000D_
After the stock market crash of 19th October, 1987, many of the weaker companies were unable to sustain their programs or to arrange farm-outs, and they have subsequently relinquished their tenements._x000D_
In some cases, little or no field work has been carried out so that many areas remain untested. This poor performance will ensure much more rigorous scrutiny of future applications by the Indonesian authorities.