'Illegal miners will be tackled'

'Illegal miners will be tackled'

JAKARTA (JP): The South Kalimantan provincial administration
has promised to tackle escalating illegal mining activities in
the mining resource-rich province to provide security to
investors.

Spokesman for the provincial administration Kamarul Hidayat
said governor Gusti Hasan Aman ordered the province's
environmental impact management agency to set up a task force on
the problem.

It will include police and officials from the provincial
office of the attorney general, he was quoted by Antara as saying
on Tuesday.

He said the measure came in response to complaints filed by
several coal investors that they suffered major losses due to
illegal exploitation of coal reserves in their contract areas.

Among the complainants is PT Arutmin Satui, a subsidiary of
Australian BHP, which mines in the Kintap area.

According to administrative data, illegal miners have
exploited at least one million tons of coal in 14 locations in
Arutmin's contract area.

Kamarul said the provincial administration was also concerned
with the illegal miners' damage to the environment.

Head of the province's mining and energy office S.A Rasyid
said he believed the illegal mining was backed by affluent
parties because of the modern equipment used.

Illegal mining activities are on the rise across the country
amid economic hardships.

Also affected are state mining companies, including coal
mining company PT Bukit Asam and publicly listed general mining
company PT Aneka Tambang.

Rampant illegal mining occurs at Aneka Tambang's gold mine in
Pongkor, West Java, where thousands of people from Java and
Sumatra have been mining for months.

The government has been unable to solve the problem. (jsk)