Jakarta. Following a lengthy and tiresome process, President Susilo Bambang signed two new government regulations on the mineral and coal mining on Thursday, 11 February 2010, they are: (i) Government Regulation Number 22 Year 2010 on Mining Area; and (ii) Government Regulation Number 23 Year 2010 on Commercial Mining Activities related to Mineral and Coal.
Two other working drafts of government regulations related to mineral and coal mining activities, namely a government regulation on supervision and monitoring as well as that on (land) reclamation and post-mining activities are currently undergoing final review by the State Secretariat.
Deputy Director General for Mineral Coal and Geothermal, S. Witoro Soelarno, conveyed his relief that both the president finally signed (and, thus, issued) both government regulations, bearing in mind that mining stakeholders have long been waiting for a regulation that guides the implementation of the new Law Number 4 year 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining. Ideally, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources ought to provide four government regulations to serve as technical guidelines to the Law on Mineral and Coal Mining.
The Government Regulation 22/2010 on Mining Area contains technical guidelines on determining state reservation area, mining commercial area, and local’s mining area. This government regulation also put (all) mining areas within the domain of the national land planning, rendering illegal all mining activities that fall outside of the above mentioned mining areas.
While Government Regulation 23/2010 on Mining Commercial Activities related to Mineral and Coal guides companies and local people in obtaining commercial mining permits, auction procedures, and in reporting. Additionally, this government regulation also gives a guideline on the allocation of production – related to mineral and coal mining – to cater to the interest of national industry; and serving as a national technical guideline on the processing and purification of mining products.
A delay in the issuance of technical guidelines to the mineral and coal mining law has resulted in various practical obstacles in mining activities. A number of investors who has applied for a permit to undertake commercial mining activities since last year were forced to stop conducting mining operations.
Moreover, this delay caused uneasiness among the business community that would not want to see an introduction of a new provincial regulation which works against their interest – bearing in mind that authorities at the provincial level have been keen on issuing new mining permits.
“We fear that due to provincial interest for economic gains, local authorities issue new mining pemits by self-interpreting the law on mineral and coal mining (instead of following the interpretation of the central government”, said a businessman from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
For example, the East Kutai Regent Irsan Noor challenged a letter by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources’ Directorate General for Mineral Coal and Geothermal claiming that a regency has the authority to issue mining permits. On 9 December 2009, the Attorney General’s Office ruled the case in favor of the East Kutai Regency when in fact the issuance of mining permits needs to go through an auction in which its procedure is outlined in the newly signed government regulation on commercial mining activities related to mineral and coal.
There is a wisdom behind the issuance of these two new government regulation in the early months of 2010 in order to prevent regents from issuing their own commercial mining permit using auction procedure outlined by their own provincial regulation. Such condition may create much confusion in the Indonesian mining industry.
Source: Tambang – 12 February 2009
Photo: Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources
