Indonesia to issue rules to ease mining in forests: Report
Friday, January 25 2002 - 11:24 AM WIB
Indonesia will issue new rules to reduce restrictions on mining in forests in a move aimed at boosting investment, a senior mines and energy official said on Friday as quoted by Reuters.
"We will issue new rules on mining in the forest. We are aware foreign investors are confused about overlapping regulation but we will solve the problem," secretary general of Mines And Energy ministry Djoko Darmono told reporters.
Other mines and energy ministry officials said current Indonesian forestry ministry rules banning open pit mining in several forest areas have caused foreign investors to put on hold development plans for mining in Indonesia.
"The forestry rule which bans open pit mining and also protects the forest is too rigid and has caused many mining investors to put their development programmes on hold," one official told Reuters.
BHP Billiton Plc/Ltd said on Friday its partner Canadian nickel miner Falconbridge Ltd had pulled out of their Gag Island nickel project in Indonesia near Irian Jaya, blaming problems related to the regulations.
BHP Billiton said it was now reviewing its options for Gag island, with its estimated 240 million tonnes of nickel, which had been viewed by the market as one of the company's longer-term sources of growth.
Darmono said the issue of mining and forestry had been raised during cabinet meetings in the past and the government would work seriously to solve the issue, especially to keep foreign mining investors in Indonesia.
"The government is serious about overcoming this issue because we don't want foreign investors to run away from Indonesia," he said. (*)