Lanna to start commercial production of coal next year
Friday, July 7 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
PT Lanna Harita Indonesia (LHI) expects to start its commercial production of coal in its concession areas early next year, with initial production level of 1 million tons of coal per annum.
LHI president Chorvircon Petpaisit said the company had conducted trial productions for some time.
He said the company's concessions in Kutai and Samarinda contains coal reserves of around 18 million tons, and it would be mined for the next 10 to 12 years.
The company, Petpaisit said, had invested around $6 million to exploit the coal in its concession.
Chorvircon said to avoid conflicts with local people the company would spend 20 U.S. cents per ton of coal that it sells for community development programs.
"We will see, if that amount is not enough and we need to increase it, we will do it," he said.
PT LHI is a foreign joint venture, with 55 percent stake controlled by Lanna Lignite of Thailand, 35% by the Harita Group, and 10% by Pan United of Singapore. (*)