124 more mining companies 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.