Coal miners protest new reclamation fund ruling

The Indonesian Coal Mining Association (ICMA) has made an official objection to a new ruling, requiring coal miners to pay upfront in full a five-year reclamation fund, as it would provide heavy financial burden to them amid the current downturn in the coal market, Kontan reported on Monday.

According to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No 7/2014, which is set to be effective at the end of February this year, coal miners are required to submit a five-year reclamation and post-mining plans including upfront payment of the required funds, before they start exploration activities.

?Paying the reclamation fund for five-years upfront is quite a burden (for the miners),? said ICMA Executive Secretary Supriatna Suhala. He urged the ministry to ease the regulation, such as by allowing miners to install the reclamation fund annually, as arranged under the previous Regulation No 78/2010.

Waskito Tanjuwijoyo, General Manager for Exploration at PT Bhakti Coal Resources said that annual installment of the reclamation fund would provide breathing room for the miners and support cash flow.

He said that the average reclamation fund per hectare per year is about Rp 80 million. A mining firm planning to carry out exploration activities over a 500-ha area, will have to provide reclamation fund of Rp 40 billion. (*)