Japan to help Indonesia develop underground mining operation

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Japan Coal Energy Center (JCOAL) agreed on Thursday to provide technical assistance to state-owned coal mining firm PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) in carrying out deep mining at the latter's Ombilin site, West Sumatra.

The agreement was contained in a memorandum of understanding signed by the presidents of the two institutions and Director General for Geology and Mining Wimpy S. Tjetjep.

This should help resolve the problems faced by mining companies here, which have been banned from carrying out opencast mining in protected forest on the grounds that such a method would damage the environment.

"Law No. 41/1999 has banned opencast mining, but deep mining could provide a breakthrough," Wimpy said after the signing ceremony.

"Japan has cutting-edge technology in deep mining ... so it will represent a transfer of technology," he said.

"With our technology, we'll try to exploit the (Ombilin coal) potential without damaging the environment. Mining at Ombilin is expected to become a model for coal mining in Indonesia," JCOAL president Katsuyoshi Ando said.

Ando pledged JCOAL would continue to provide technological assistance to Indonesia, considering the importance of Indonesian coal.

"Indonesian coal has become famous as environmentally friendly coal, the most sought-after coal in the Asia region," Ando said.

The government applied the ban on opencast mining in a bid to save the country's protected forest from serious damage.

But mining companies have slammed the ruling and said it has prevented exploitation of the country's rich mineral resources. They also argued the law would further scare investors away from the mining industry, which has been in the doldrums for the past few years.

Meanwhile, PTBA operational director Sukrisno said the Ombilin Mining unit was in a transition from an opencast operation to deep mining. It has three sites.

At present only Ombilin 1 employs deep mining, which has produced some 1,700 tons of coal.

"Hopefully, Ombilin 2 and 3 will follow," Sukrisno said, adding that the unit was set to produce some 70,000 tons of coal this year. Next year, the unit expects to produce some 200,000 tons.

A study between JCOAL and PTBA has also revealed that the Ombilin unit has potential coal reserves of 200 million tons.

The technical cooperation with JCOAL also includes research to prevent spontaneous combustion, preparation of coal and transportation technology at the mine site.