Legislators urge PT BA to close Ombilin mine

The legislative council of Tanjungenim regency in South Sumatra has called on state owned coal mining company PT Batubara Bukit Asam (PT BA) to close the company's money-losing coal mine in Ombilin, West Sumatra, Palembang Pos reported on Monday.

Darmaidi Suhaimi, the vice chairman of the Commission C of the council, said that PT BA had to spend part of the company's income from its coal mining areas in Tanjungenim to subsidize the Ombilin coal mine.

According to him, PT BA spends between Rp 40 billion to Rp 60 billion per year to subsidize the Ombilin mine during the past three years.

"We will therefore ask PT BA to close the Ombilin mining area because it will only eat up the company's income from Tanjungenim," he said, adding that a group of the council's members had recently visited the Ombilin mine to get a close look on its activities.

PT BA which operates larger parts of its mining areas in Tanjungenim, produces only about 18,000 tons of coal from the Ombilin mine. (*)