Adaro?s operation ?suspended? following fatal incident

The government has ordered South Kalimantan-based coal miner PT Adaro Indonesia to temporarily suspend its operation following a fatal incident on Sunday that killed two workers.

?My office has issued a letter calling for the suspension of all blasting activities by the company?s contractors,? Witoro Soelarno, mineral and coal technical director at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said on Wednesday, adding that the company could still continue production activities outside the area being investigated by mining inspectors.

Witoro said his office wanted to ensure that Adaro?s operation would be secure and such incident would not happen again.

?Next week, we shall see presentation from Adaro on why the incident occurred,? he said.

Two miners were killed and another injured in an explosion at one of Adaro?s coal mines located in Wara Tepian village, Tabalong regency in South Kalimantan.

Adaro 's operation manager in South Kalimantan Putu Sastrawan said on Monday said the incident occurred on Sunday. The mine's wall collapsed in the incident.

Both workers -- Syahrian, 30, and Fitriyadi, 35 -- were reportedly killed after soil and coal stones fell on them. Meanwhile, Udin, 32, suffered a serious back injury. All these workers are working for PT Batu Timur, which hired them from PT Pama Persada, a sub-contractor of Adaro.

A team of inspectors from the province?s mining office and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is now on the mining site to investigate the cause of the incident.

Adaro has targeted to produce around 32 million tons of coal in 2006, significantly higher compared to 26.69 million tons in 2005, following the improvement of its barging fleet and ship loading systems.(Godang)