Japan to help Indonesia develop underground mining operation
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.