Mining investment will decline if STP system abolished: IMA

The Indonesian Mining Association predicts that Indonesia will potentially lose mining investment potentials of up to US$3.5 billion if the submarine tailing placement (STP) system is banned in the country without any preliminary studies.

IMA executive director Paul L. Courtier said Indonesia had a huge mining potentials, but if STP system became a barrier, it would affect long-term investment as mining investors would back down from investing.

"Mining potentials in Eastern Indonesia and also in Sumatra are very great," Courtrier said, adding that such potentials could be tapped to improve the welfare of people in those areas, in line with the implementation of regional autonomy.

Nevertheless, Courtrier said that local administrations should consider allowing investors to adopt the submarine tailing placement, namely allowing investors to dispose their mining tailing into the deep water near the mining areas.

Currently, two mining companies, Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) and Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) are disposing their tailing into the nearby seas, in Buyat Bay in Minahasa for NMR and in Nusa Tenggara water for NNT.

Courtrier said the two mining companies disposed their tailing into the deep parts of the seas, with the depth of between 85 meters to 108 meters, so that it should not create any environmental impacts as there were no biota living in such a deep water.

Nevertheless, activists including those from the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) and Jatam have slammed both NMR and NNT for polluting the environmental by disposing its tailing into the nearby seas.

They estimated that NMR had been disposing around 2,000 tons of tailing per day to the Buyat Bay in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, since 1996, while NNT had been disposing 200,000 tons of tailing per day to Nusa Tenggara waters since July 2000. (*)