Investors not yet interested in Sumbawa's marble potentials

Besides its gold and copper reserves, Sumbawa Island also has good-quality marble reserves, with total amount of 100 million cubic meters of marble. However, no single investor has been interested in mining the marble in Sumbawa, an official said.

"We have conducted a public expose on the marble potentials, but no single investor with strong capital is interested in it," Rifai Ahmad, head of the West Nusatenggara's mines and energy office, said at a workshop on the management of general mining on Wednesday.

The workshop, Rifai said, aimed to socialize the draft minister of mines and energy decree that would be made affective in September. Based on the draft decree, most mining activities would be put under the authority of local administrations, and not anymore under the central government.

According to Nursaleh Adiwinata, head of the mineral research and technology development at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the workshop also aimed to prepare local administrations to assume their responsibilities following the implementation of regional autonomy.

Starting November, Nursaleh said, most licensing authority for mining activities would be given to local administrations. (*)