Indonesia to produce 135 million tons of coal

The government has approved all working programs proposed by coal producers for year 2004, with planned combined production to reach 135 million tons, an official said.

Mahyudin Lubis, director of mineral resources and coal exploitation, told Petromindo.com on Thursday that the approved working programs included production and budget targets of the coal producers which held coal contracts of work (PKP2B).

Lubis did not provide details on how to reach the 135 million tons target.

Earlier, driven by increasing in coal price, a number of coal producers announced an increase in their production targets.

They included PT Bumi Resources, which controls Kaltim Prima Coal and Arutmin Indonesia and which had planned a 40 percent rise to 43 million tons, combined; Thai Energy conglomerate Banpu Plc with a 10 percent increase to 13.2 million tons; and Australian miner Straits Resources Limited which had planed a 15 percent increase to 2.3 million tons. (Godang)