Sei Siring River coal deposits fall into the hands of local govt-owned company
Monday, July 10 2000 - 03:45 AM WIB
The huge coal deposits in the Sei Siring River, in North Samarinda, East Kalimantan Province, finally fall into the hands of the local government company called Perusahaan Daerah Pergudangan dan Pengadaan Bahan (Perusda Pergudangan).
The local Kaltim Post daily said that PT Lana Harita had initially won an exploration license for the Siring mining deposits, but the Samarinda administration decided to cancel it following demands from the local people who partly owns the land to let them, together with the administration, to manage and exploit the deposits.
The paper said that Perusda Pergudangan would cooperate with 17 cooperatives formed by the villagers who owned the land.
The Sei Siring Rive coal mining site, covering tens of thousands ha of land, is believed to have a huge coal deposits.
Perusda Pergudangan president Kadir Thanan said that exploitation was expected to start in August with an initial commercial production of between 100-200 tons per year.
He said that the production capacity would be gradually increased up to 1 million tons per year.
He said that the high quality coal product would be exported.
He said that the company had yet to discuss with the villagers or cooperative the profit sharing mechanism. (*)