South Kalimantan lifts ban on issuance of new mining permits
Monday, August 14 2006 - 01:59 AM WIB
"The agreement to remove the ban on the issuance of new mining permits was made during a meeting between his office, South Kalimantan governor and a number of regents in the province recently," MS Marpaung, the director of mineral and coal business development at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said.
Marpaung, however, said that the local government had also agreed to tighten the procedures in the issuance of new mining permits so that the operation of new mining firms in the province would not cause a problem to the environment.
The government banned the issuance of new mining permits in the province on Aug 14, last year amid growing criticism on the negative impact of the mining operations in the province on the environment. (godang)