Aussie labs examining possibility of turning Indonesian coal into briquette

Some laboratories in Australia are continuing to analyze Indonesian coal so as to enable that country?s firms to produce quality coal-briquette in Indonesia, a senior executive of a cooperative doing briquette business said Thursday.

?The laboratory examination will be completed in the near future, and, if it turns out good results, we can hope that some Australian firms will soon decide to invest in our briquette sector,? Julius Bobo, chairman of The National Coal Briquette Development Cooperative (KPBBN), told Petromindo.Com.

Julius said his cooperative had sent a certain volume of Indonesian coal to some briquette producers in Australia, which then conducted laboratory examination on the item.

Julius refused to mention the names of the Australian firms, however.

He said that KPBBN had increased efforts to promote coal briquette production in Indonesia after the government decided to revoke fuel subsidies.

KPBBN currently produces around 22,000 tons of coal-briquette annually, which is used by consumers in Jakarta and its surrounds, and in East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta. (leo)