Govt aims to complete drafting new mining law soon

The government expects to be able to propose a crucial new mining bill to the House of Representatives early next year, according to Director General of Geology and Mineral Resources Simon Felix Sembiring.

Simon was quoted by the Friday edition of the Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying that the draft of the new mining law is currently being finalized by related departments and will be handed over to the State Secretary latter this year for final approval before being debated by legislators.

He said that the government team drafting the new law were now making final revision to clauses regarding equality between local and foreign mining firms, environment, and the role of the central and regional governments.

Industry experts have long urged the government to draft a new mining law in a bid to lure new foreign investments into the sector as the current Mining Law No.11/1967 is deemed no longer relevant to accomodate the latest development in the world's mining industry.

While other economic sectors expanded during the three quarters of this year, the mining sector declined by 5.48 percent compared to the same nine-month period of last year due to the lack of investment amid various uncertainties, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).(*)