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tate-run coal producer PT Bukit Asam announced on Thursday it had acquired two companies in Central Kalimantan in a move expected to provide the mining company with an additional 292 million tons of coal resources.

Bukit Asam, in a statement published in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), revealed it had taken over coal miner Tabalong Prima Resources (TPR) and coal transport Mitra Hasrat Bersama (MHB) in a transaction worth US$36 million.

The payment will be made in three stages. Bukit Asam said it had paid $12.3 million of the total figure on Thursday and would settle the remaining payments in the next six months in order for the company to wholly acquire the two firms.

The acquisition was made through the publicly listed miner'€™s subsidiary, Internasional Prima Coal (IPC). IPC is 51 percent owned by Bukit Asam.

'€œThe acquisition is made to support our business expansion and increase our coal reserves,'€ Bukit Asam corporate secretary Joko Pramono told The Jakarta Post.

TPR operates a 3,145 hectare mining concession in Tabalong, with 292 million tons of coal resources and 109 million tons of mineable coal reserves.

The additional reserves are a major addition for IPC, which operates a 3,283 hectare mining concession with 13.6 million tons of proven reserves in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, MHB owns a coal jetty and conveyor system by the Barito River, with a total area of 60 hectares. Its conveyor system has a loading capacity of 1,000 tons per hour and unloading capacity of 500 tons per hour.

TPR is integrated with MHB through their ownership of a 85.5-kilometer hauling road that connects TPS'€™s concession with MHB'€™s port.

The transaction was made shortly after Bukit Asam took over almost the entire stake in Bukit Asam Banko (BAB), a joint venture it created with Rajawali Asia Resources, part of the Rajawali Group in 2008.

BAB will be responsible for managing mining operations in Banko Tengah, Muara Enim regency, South Sumatra.

Bukit Asam now controls a 99.99 percent stake in BAB, up from 65 percent, through a transaction that cost Bukit Asam Rp 842 million ($63,730) last month.

Joko said that synergizing and expanding its subsidiaries was needed to reach the company'€™s target for the year amid slumping coal prices.

Bukit Asam president director Milawarma said during a recent shareholders'€™ meeting that the company was upbeat about booking 33 percent growth to 23.9 million tons in coal sales volume in 2015.

Bukit Asam saw its first quarter revenue rise by around 6.15 percent to Rp 3.28 trillion on the back of higher sales, supported by purchases from third parties.

Its own production in the first three months, however, stood at 3.7 million tons, or some 2 percent lower than its output over the same period last year.

The lower production, the company previously said, was due to an increase in stripping ratio '€” the ratio of the volume of waste material needed to be handled to extract coal.

The company saw a drop in net profits of 36.5 percent year-on-year to Rp 330.34 billion, due to rising expenses resulting from higher volume of waste material.