SE Sulawesi asks to allow exploitation of Bahubulu nickel prospect

South East Sulawesi provincial government said on Tuesday it is asking central government to lift the status of Bahubulu nickel prospect from protected forest area to allow state miner PT. Aneka Tambang Tbk. (Antam) to exploit the prospect.

?Before Ministry of Forestry declared Bahubulu as protected forest, the area?s status was recreational forestry park. Now we are asking central government via Ministry of Forestry to give the area its previous status to enable Antam to exploit the area and bring income for the region,? South East Sulawesi governor La Ode Kaimuddin said in a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta.

Under the forestry law, which was enacted in 1999, open pit mining in protected forest areas are prohibited. The law is causing more than a hundred mining projects came to halt.

Meanwhile, in the same hearing, Antam president Dedi Aditya Sumanegara said the company had thus far identified 8.5 million of high grade saprolite ore and 34 million low grade limonite ore in Bahubulu prospect. (godang)