Purnomo threatens illegal miners

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro on Wednesday assured mining investors that the government would take harsh action against illegal miners, Tempo Interactive reported Thursday.

Purnomo said the government had incorporated provisions on legal action against illegal miners into the general mining bill which will soon be deliberated at the House of Representatives.

With severe punishment, illegal mining activities would drop from time to time, Purnomo told foreign and domestic mining investors in a meeting to mark the release of the results of a survey on Indonesia?s mining sector. The survey was conducted by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in cooperation with Indonesian Mining Association (IMA).

Illegal mining is still rampant in Indonesia despite government special programs to curb them.

The government had even planned to take to court companies, included state-owned ones, which continued to buy coal from illegal miners.

In September, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources announced that it would issue periodically the names of licensed coal mining firms that had started production activities. (*)