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Government to open tender for ex-CoW mining areas
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Mining trucks drive along the tracks of a coal mine in East Kalimantan. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
T
he government plans to issue a call for tenders for several mining areas previously operated by the holders of contracts of work (CoW) by the end of the year.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will be given priority to mine in those areas as mandated in the 2009 Mining Law.
Those areas include four nickel mining concessions in Sulawesi, two coal mining concessions in Sumatra and one tin mining concession in Bangka Belitung Islands.
The nickel mining areas were previously operated by publicly listed nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia (INCO), a local subsidiary of Brazilian mining giant Vale SA.
The company’s CoW was amended in 2014, resulting in a reduction in its total mining concessions to 118,435 hectares from the previous 190,505 hectares.
“We will prioritize SOEs first. So, if there is more than one SOE interested in managing those areas, we will hold an auction only for them. But if there is only one SOE interested, we will just directly assign the company,” the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's mineral and coal director-general, Bambang Gatot Ariyono, said in Jakarta on Thursday.
The 2009 Mining Law stipulates that a mining area should be listed in the state reserve areas (WPN) once its CoW is expired. Then the area will be stated as a special mining area (WUPK), which could consist of several special mining license areas (WIUPK), before it is offered to be managed by SOEs.
If there are no state firms ready to take over the mining of an area, it will be offered to private companies through a tender. (bbn)
