Manganese ore miners in NTT stop operation
Tuesday, July 5 2016 - 02:06 AM WIB
The paper quoted Head of the NTT Mining Office, Bony Marasin as saying that 23 other manganese ore miners are still operating, but they may not seek to renew their IUPs due to limited reserves.
?There?s possibility that many of them will opt to leave NTT because the manganese deposits onshore Pulau Timor, which were previously thought to be huge turn out to be only in the surface. Further exploration to a depth of 3-5 meters, in several spots, no manganese can be found,? he said.
The local regency administrations issued in 2010-2013 a total of 145 IUPs for manganese operations. Among of the leading manganese firms in Timor Tengah Selatan Regency is PT Soe Makmur Resources, a subsidiary of IDX-listed PT SMR Utama Tbk, which owns a manganese concession covering a total area of 4,500 hectares. The company has started manganese production in 2010 with output of 135,000 tons.
In Belu Regency, PT Asia Mangan Grup (AMG), a local subsidiary of Australia?s Asia Minerals Corp, operates a manganese concession and a ferromanganese smelter. (*)