Hundreds of S. Kalimantan IUP coal miners suspended

The Directorate General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources have suspended a total of 359 coal miners holding the IUP mining business license in South Kalimantan, or about 46 percent of the total 789 IUP miners in the province.

Head of the South Kalimantan administration?s energy and mineral resources office, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said on Thursday that many of the miners have failed to pay financial obligations such as royalty and reclamation funds.

The ministry has given the miners until August 6 to settle their obligations or their mining licenses will be permanently revoked.

Hanif was quoted by the Banjarmasinpost.co.id as saying that many of the suspended miners turned out to have no longer run coal mining activities and their offices are no longer located at the original address, thus creating difficulties for the administration to collect the unpaid financial obligations.

Meanwhile, Head of the Miners and Mining Contractors Association (Aspektam) in South Kalimantan, Muhammad Solikin said that only about five percent of the 359 suspended coal miners are still active, while the rest have ceased mining operations. (*)