Govt asked to revoke idle mining permits

The chairman of the association of Indonesian coal mining companies (APBI) Bob Kamandanu has urged the government to revoke mining permits on idle mining areas and then give them to those who have enough funds to carry out exploration activities, Tribunnews.com reported on Monday.

He said that many mining areas had been left idle and unexplored because the owners did not have enough money to carry out mining operations. ?If they don?t have enough money for exploration, the government should withdraw their mining permits,? he added.

Bob suggested the government to transfer the idle mining permits to those who have strong commitment and have enough funds to carry out mining operations.

Besides idle mining areas, there are at least a half of the 10,000 mining permits overlapped each other. ?We don?t know what will happen with the overlapping mining area. The government should also revoke them,? he said. (*)