Coal firm gets grant

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned coal mining company PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) received a US$400,000 grant yesterday from the Trade and Development Association (TDA), a U.S. government agency, and SGI International, an American company, to conduct a feasibility study on the use of liquids-from-coal (LFC) technology.

PTBA Technical Director A.C. Purba said that LFC technology, which is owned by SGI, would improve the quality of its coal for use in Indonesian power plants.

SGI and the TDA each granted $200,000 to the South Sumatra- based coal mining company.

Purba said that 70 percent of PTBA's coal reserves of 5.5 billion tons at Tanjung Enim, southern Sumatra, were of inferior- quality coal.

"We can produce clean-burning fuel to supply power stations, cement manufacturers and households by using the technology," he added. (04)