New mining law to be approved in July: Official

Even though a number of issues related to mining permits have yet to be resolved, the government is optimistic that the House of Representatives will pass the mining bill into law next month, an official says.

 

The director of mineral, coal and geothermal energy at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry M.S Marpaung, told reporters Wednesday that there were only two contentious issues that needed to be settled before the proposed mining law could be passed.

 

The first issue was related to the issuance of special mining agreements, which will be similar to the current contract of work (CoW) format for big mining projects, while the second one related to the transition period to be extended to existing CoW holders to allow them to bring their mining operations into line with the system introduced by the new law.

 

Basically, we have agreed on the special permits, which will be issued for big mining projects. However, we still differ on how long the transition period should be - some say one year, some say two and others say the companies will need five years,” Marpaung said as quoted by Jakarta Post.

 

With only two issues still outstanding, he said he was upbeat that the bill would be passed into law in July.

 

The special mining permits will be issued by new agency to be established following the introduction of the new law, and will be available to mining projects worth at least $250 million. Meanwhile, mining permits for projects worth less than $250 million will be issued by local governments. (*)