Lanna to invest US$6.5 million in East Kalimantan

Thai mining firm Lanna Resources Plc announced Tuesday its Singaporean unit had signed a memorandum of understanding with Kaltim Batumanuggal to jointly invest US$6.5 million to develop a coal mine in East Kalimantan.

Lanna said in a statement to Thailand?s stock exchange that Lanna (Singapore) Ltd will have a 90 stake in the joint venture called PT Lanna Mining, while Kaltim will hold the remaining stake.

The joint venture will invest $6.5 million to develop a 1,000 hectares contract area, which is believed to contain 14 million tons of coal.

Production is scheduled to start in 2003, the company said.

Lanna is Thailand?s second biggest coal miner.

Aside from the joint venture, Lanna Resources has also a 55 percent stake in PT Lanna Harita Indonesia, which has concessions in the Kutai and Samarinda areas of East Kalimantan, believed to contain coal reserves of around 18 million tons.

Its partners in Lanna Harita are Harita Group and Pan United, which respectively hold 35 percent and 10 percent stake.

Lanna Harita earlier said it expected to start commercial production early next year with initial production of 1 million tons of coal per year. (Bodega)