Coal miners required to pay royalty upfront

Coal miners planning to export their output will be required to pay royalty upfront to be able to obtain the necessary export recommendation letter from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), Bisnis Indonesia daily reported on Wednesday.

The paper quoted Director General of Mineral and Coal at the ministry R. Sukhyar as saying that the royalty upfront payment is part of the requirements for obtaining the export recommendation letter stipulated under a new ruling issued by his office.

He added that the export recommendation letter is necessary for coal miners to be able to obtain registered exporter status from the Ministry of Trade.

Meanwhile, Director for Coal Management and Development Bambang Tjahjono said that coal miners will also be required to first settle any royalty arrears to be able to get the export recommendation letter.

He added that the requirement is made so as to force miners to pay the royalty properly as some miners in the past had evaded paying the royalty. (*)