Miners may invest $3.2b in 2011
Saturday, January 8 2011 - 03:47 AM WIB
The ministry?s director general for minerals and coal, Bambang Setiawan, said coal mining would remain the largest draw for investors sector due to soaring coal prices.
?Domestic players will dominate new investments in coal mining this year. With the surging prices, they will find it easier to secure bank loans to expand production," he said Friday.
Bambang said the mineral mining sector would not be as bullish as coal mining. He predicted that there would be no significant increase in the amount of investment entering the sector.
?Many are interested in investing [in the mineral mining sector] but almost all potential mining sites have been acquired by existing miners,? he said, adding that exploring new sites was not easy.
To attract more investors to the mineral and coal mining sectors, the government needed to combat the weak coordination between the government and regional administrations, Bambang said.
He said most regional administrations did not report to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry when they issued mining business permits. To deal with the problem, the ministry requires regional administrations to register all permits issued, he added.
?Currently, around 10,000 mining business permits have been issued, but only 4,000 are registered by us,? Bambang said. (*)