Anugerah Bara looks for coal in Pasaman

PT Anugerah Bara Hampang is conducting exploration activities for coal on a 3,500-hectare plot of land in Ganggu Mudiak, Bonjol district, Pasaman regency, West Sumatra, Neraca daily reported on Monday.

The exploration activities started in September this year and are expected to be completed in August next year, Pasaman’s vice regent Benny Utama was quoted by the paper as saying.

According to him, the purpose of the explorations is to ascertain the size of coal reserves in the area. Should the firm find a huge amount of reserves, investors will be invited to develop the area into an open-pit mine. The land is traditionally owned by the local people.

He hoped coal could become one of the main commodities produced by the area.

The vice regent said the regency administration actually did not feel fully comfortable with the exploration activities in view of the fact that most of coalmines in the country cause problems to the local environment and local people. Furthermore, the land is situated in the protected forests.

However, the administration decided to allow the exploration activities as they aim to see the size of the coal reserves. The regency will only allow the development of the coalmine, if its provides greater benefits to the regency than the possible damage it might cause. (*)