GTB misses production target on flood

East Kalimantan-based coal miner PT Garda Tujuh Benua (GTB) said Tuesday its coal production only reached 18,000 tons last year, much lower than the target of around 150,000 tons, as flood hampared production activities.

The firm started production in October last year.

?Our activities stopped last month because the flood had broken some equipments,? Eddy Wiyantoro, a GTB marketing staff, told Petromindo.Com.

Eddy said currently GTB had resumed operation and was ready to produce around 50,000 tons of coal per month starting February. ?We will evaluate this volume target in the middle of this year since we have a capacity more than that,? Eddy added.

GTB operates a 2,000-hectare mining concession located on Bunyu Island, East Kalimantan, believed to contain coal reserves of around 200 million tons. The company?s mining facilities are able to support production of around 4 million tons of coal per year.

Eddy also said that GTB had arranged to ship some 40,000 tons of coal for trial to a European destination. Eddy declined to name the potential buyer(s). He only said that it was not Anker Coal Company BV of the Netherlands or ThyssenKrupp AG of Germany. (Robert)