Govt praises Kaltim Prima Coal
Thursday, February 10 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The director general of mining lauded coal mining firm PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) for voluntarily surrender a 50 ha coal mining site in the Separi and Santan areas in Kutai regency, East Kalimantan, to the local administration.
"The award is received by KPC president Grant Thorne in Jakarta today (Wednesday)," company public relations officer Husiensyah Atma told Kaltim Post.
Husiensyah said that the 50 ha mining site was surrendered in October 1999 to allow the local people to mine the area and help improve the social and economic condition of the local community.
He acknowledged that KPC had invest quite a lot in the areas, but added that the company decided to let the local people to do the mining because the location of the site was quite far. He added that the mining site had high coal reserves potential.
But Husiensyah said that the release of the 50 ha mining site would not affect KPC's annual production target of 1.5 million ton.
He pointed out that the company's mining sites in Sangatta and Bengalon, in East Kutai areas contains an estimated coal reserves 130 million tons to allow the company to operate until 2020, and possibly even more.
Meanwhile, Kutai Regent Awang Farouk also congratulated KPC for receiving the government award.
"This is the best donation from KPC to the local community to improve their welfare in the future," Awang said.(*)