Govt to accommodate illegal miners through cooperatives

The government will accommodate illegal coal mining activity by grouping the illegal miners in cooperatives in a bid to help resolve the complex illegal mining problem.

Director general of mining at the Ministry of Mines and Energy Surna T. Djajadiningrat was quoted by the Neraca daily as saying that the new program would be first implemented in South Kalimantan province.

He said that Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo B. Yudhoyono planned to visit South Kalimantan to start the program.

He said that the program was copied from the successful method used by the state owned coal mining firm PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam in handling the illegal coal mining activity in the Ombilin area in West Sumatra.

Surna said that the businessmen who had been financing the illegal miners would not be handled by his department but would let the local security authority to deal with them.

Illegal coal mining activity had been a big problem in the country particularly amid the current economic crisis. Coal companies had often complained about this problem. (*)