124 mining firms to operate in protected forest

124 mining firms to operate in protected forest

Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Monday that
it would give 102 mining firms the chance to operate in protected
forests, bringing the total number to 124 firms.

Earlier, the ministry granted 22 firms the right to mine in
protected forests across the country. Their requests await final
approval from the House of Representatives.

"All 124 mining companies that signed contracts before the
implementation of Forestry Law No. 41/1999 have the same chance
to operate in protected forest," said head of the mining
environmental conservation subdivision at the Ministry of Energy
and Mineral Resources Soemarno Witoro.

"If we only allowed 22 firms, many would ask why the other
companies were not allowed," said Soemarno, who was accompanied
by director general for geology and mineral resources Wimpy S.
Tjetjep.

Meanwhile, Wimpy said mining firms could be proposed to resume
operations in protected forest as long as they could indicate
that extensive reserves still remained for exploitation.

Soemarno agreed with Wimpy, adding that the government would
also consider local support and the firms' location in allowing
them to operate in protected forest.

Under the forestry law, opencast mining is prohibited in
protected forest.

Consequently, some 158 mining firms must cease activities as
their concessions became protected forest.

The 158 firms later demanded that the government allow them to
resume operations in protected forest, saying that soil structure
in the country had made it almost impossible to carry out
techniques other than opencast mining.

The figure then declined to 124 firms as a number of them
canceled their intentions to operate in protected forest for
financial reasons.

In June, the government, through the Office of the
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, proposed to the House that
22 mining firms be allowed to operate in protected forests.

Among the 22 are PT Gag Nickel, PT Weda Bay, PT Nusa Halmahera
Mineral, PT Meratus Sumber Mas (now PT Pelsart Tambang Kencana),
PT Freeport Indonesia, PT Karimun Granite, PT Natarang Mining, PT
Indominco Mandiri, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, PT INCO and PT
Nabire Bhakti.

However, the number and names of proposed firms have undergone
several revisions, with many new firms replacing a lesser number
of old firms, many of which are small-scale operations.

This prompted several non-government organizations and State
Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim to question the basis
for selecting new firms for proposal to the House.

The mining industry has generated billion of dollars in
revenue for the country, but conversely, it has also sparked
serious environmental damage.

Soemarno also said the government was preparing a presidential
decree to allow the 22 proposed firms to go ahead with
exploration and possible exploitation in protected forests,
combined with preservation of the environment.

Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive
director Longgena Ginting strongly criticized the government's
statement for allowing all companies that had a contract in 1999
to resume operations in protected forest.

He said the government had no clear direction or criteria in
its plan to allow mining firms to operate there.

Ginting said the environmental cost would be too high if the
government allowed mining firms to operate in such locations.