Govt completes two new mining regulations

The government has completed the drafting of two governmental regulations (PP) on mining areas and mining operations respectively to implement the new mining law, a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has said.

?The new regulations only need to be signed by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights. The regulations are expected to be issued this week,? Bambang Gatot Aryono, the ministry's Director of Supervision and Development of Mineral, Coal and Geothermal said in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted` by Investor Daily.

He said one of the regulations provided a clear-cut guideline on the location of a mining area awarded to a mining company, while the other one sets among others the procedure in the mandatory divestment program.

With the issuance of the regulation on a mining area, the government will have a guideline, for example, in settling problems related to overlapping mining areas, he added

Related to the calculation of the value of shares that have to be divested by a foreign miner as part of the mandatory divestment program, the government has agreed to use an independent appraiser in determining their value, he said.

?The regulation only states that the valuation of the shares that will be divested should be carried out by an independent appraiser,? he said.

Meanwhile, Director General of Mineral, Coal and Geothermal Bambang Setiawan said that the government had prepared a number of areas that would be offered to investors.

?The tender will be held by regional governments," he said.

Bambang said the government was currently finalizing two other governmental regulations implementing the 2009 Coal and Mineral Law, respectively on post mining operation and reclamation. (*)