Coal mining may sink island

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan: Sebuku island may sink if coal mining activities there are continued, a local activist of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), an environmental watchdog, said here on Sunday.

Nurhalis Madjid said the findings of the Regional Development Study Center of Kotabaru regency showed the 275-square-kilometer island does not have the environmental capability to sustain mining activities.

The island is inhabited by some 4,900 people, Antara said.

Nurhalis said the coal deposits in at least 25 areas on the island were first discovered by the Dutch in 1925. Plans to exploit the resources, however, were stopped after the Dutch found out the island might not survive mining.

Instead, the colonial authorities turned the island into a preserved park to serve as a buffer zone for Laut Islet, which is located between Sebuku Island and the mainland of South Kalimantan.

A private company, identified only as PT CBS, has been operating on the island for one year. However, Suharna Rasyid, an official in the province's energy and mining office, said it was an exaggeration to say the island would sink due to coal mining activities "because its reserves reach 11 million metric tons".

Last year, the company's production capacity reached a million metric tons, he said.