Some 16 foreign mining firms apply for generation VIII contract

22:30

At least 16 foreign mining firms have applied to the government for the generation VIII contract of work (COW), according to the director for the management of mining sector of the Ministry of Mines and Energy Simon Sembiring.

Simon said that most of the mining firms came from Canada.

"The 16 mining firms have already received the principle approval," he said.

He said that the foreign investors have started making the application since November 1998.

But he said that the number of applicants for the generation VIII COW was relatively smaller compared to the applicants for the generation VII COW which surged to 172, although only 38 finally signed the contract.

Simon said that the problem was financing difficulties amid the current weak capital market worldwide.

"But the number (16) is quite okay. We expect this to increase again," he said.

According to Bisnis Indonesia, since the generation I COW was launched in 1967 until the generation VIII contract was launched in February 1998, the number of contracts signed have reached 235 COWs.

Giant gold mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia was the only mining firm in Irian Jaya which signed the first COW generation.

Simon said that the government could not yet issue the draft of the generation VIII COW pending the completion of the revision of the 1967 law on mining and the issuance of government regulation on regional autonomy law, and fiscal balances between the central and the regional government law.

He said that the generation VIII COW would incorporate the new law and the government regulation.(*)