Special Interview: The year of infrastructure for Permata Resources
Monday, August 20 2012 - 02:08 AM WIB
Striving to be a key privately owned coal producer in the coal resource-rich Sumatra, coal miner Permata Energy Resources, is making aggressive investment in developing infrastructure facilities on the island.
The company hopes that once the planned infrastructure development has been completed, coal production at its mines in Sumatra could stabilize at around 7 million tons per year, about double the current output.
Director of Permata Resources, Aris Munandar, said that the company has allocated about US$50 million worth of investment in 2012-2013 for the development of infrastructure facilities in Sumatra including hauling road, port, and supporting production facilities such as loading conveyor.
?Now is the year of infrastructure for Permata,? he told CoalAsia in an interview. He added that the company also plans to develop new infrastructure facilities in East Kalimantan next year including a port with a capacity of 10 million tons.
Permata Resources is a holding company for five active coal mines namely PT Riau Baraharum in Indragiri Hulu, Riau, PT Nusantara Termal Coal in Muara Bungo, Jambi, PT Tunas Muda Jaya in East Kalimantan, PT Interex Sacra Raya in East Kalimantan and Batuah Energi Prima in East Kalimantan.
In the first semester of this year, the group produced about 3 million tons of coal, more than half of the full-year target of between 4.5 million and 5 million tons. It aims to ramp up production to 7 million tons next year.
Permata expects production from its mines in Sumatra to stabilize at around 7 million tons per year, and in East Kalimantan at between 4.5 million and 5 million tons in the future once the development of the planned infrastructure facilities has been completed.
The company is developing a 98-km hauling road in Sumatra?s Jambi Province, which will become alternative access to haul coal as the local river currently used to transport the commodity is getting shallower. The local government has also prohibited miners from using public road to transport coal.
?We hope it will become a new corridor for hauling coal in Jambi,? Aris said.
The company is currently building a coal port in Jambi, which is expected to be put on trial at the end of this year. The port will have a capacity of 4 million tons per year, and before reaching the designed capacity of 15 million tons in 2015.
Read the complete report in August edition of CoalAsia magazine
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak