Mega Alam Sejahtera plans to produce 2.4 MTPA of coal

PT. Mega Alam Sejahtera (MAS), a coal unit of Indonesia-listed mining firm PT ATPK Resources Tbk, plans to increase its coal output gradually to 200,000 tonnes per month from 60,000 tonnes per month presently.

MAS will achieve coal output of 200,000 per month once the company completes its mine infrastructure and add more heavy-duty equipments, parent company said in statement.

MAS, which started coal production in December 2009, has had problems such as unfinished mine infrastructure and bad weather in 2010, which made it only able to produce around 298,000 tonnes.

In December 2010, Director for Operation Saur Maruli Silalahi said that the company was unable to meet the production target due to heavy rainfalls as well as land disputes with local residents in some parts of the company?s concession areas. In addition to such problems, the production was lower than expected because the construction of the company?s barge loading conveyor (BLC) has not been completed.

To boost its coal production, the company has appointed PT Pacific Prima Coal as mine contractor for MAS. The company also has a coal offtake deal with PT Bara Jaya Utama.

The company's mine is located in Berau regency, East Kalimantan and it has coal resource of 85 million tonnes with calorific value of 4,800-5,100 kcal/kg. (denny)