Revision of mining law to be completed this year

By Thomas Sembiring

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said stated that the planned revision of the 2009 Mining Law is expected to be completed by end of this year.

He was speaking to reporters Tuesday following a focus group discussion at the ministry held to make the academic draft of the revised mining law.

Sudirman said that in parallel, the House of Representatives is also preparing its own academic draft of the revised mining law, adding that the House has set a target to complete the revision in June or July of this year.

He explained that the current mining law has to be revised following the introduction of the autonomy law which stipulates that authority over some mining permits in regencies and mayoralties should be transferred to the provincial government. He added that the revision also comes from judicial review of the mining law by the Constitutional Court.

Sudirman said that certain articles in the mining law are no longer relevant to current condition, which if not revised will cause many miners to be in breach of the law. He cited as an example that the law stipulates that domestic smelters must be completed three years after the government introduced the mineral ore export ban policy in 2014. ?If it?s not revised, it is almost certain there will be plenty of violations,? he said.

The minister said that given the current drop in commodity prices many miners have faced difficulties in financing the smelter projects, which means that not all smelters can be completed by 2017 as targeted.

Meanwhile, Director General of Mineral and Coal Bambang Gatot Ariyono said that the revision of the mining law must be able to respond to emerging new challenges in the mining sector.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak