Mining Law regulations may not be ready this year

Indonesiais unlikely to complete final regulations attached to a new mining and coal law this year, an official said on Monday as quoted by Reuters.

The government has been drafting regulations on the new mining and coal law passed in December 2008 for presidential approval. It had said the regulations should be issued by October.

Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director of mining and coal production at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said ministries with vested interests in the regulations, such as the Finance Ministry, had yet to respond to the draft proposals.

?We doubt the regulations can be completed this year,? said Bambang, who did not say when he thought the regulations were likely to be completed.

Issuing the regulations is seen as crucial to providing more certainty for mining investors.(*)