Indonesian minister eyes illegal tin, coal miners
Date: 24-Dec-01
Country: INDONESIA
Oil and gas are the only resource commodities currently classified as strategic in Indonesia, which means the central government is required by law to closely monitor production and ensure output benefits the state.
"Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has written a letter to Trade and Industry Minister Rini Soewandi asking the central government to make coal and tin strategic commodities to protect them from illegal miners," Djoko Darmono, secretary general of the Mines and Energy Ministry, told reporters.
"We need legal powers to take tough action against illegal miners, so that only authorised companies can do the mining."
Darmono argued that by classifying tin and coal as strategic commodities it would give authorities a stronger legal basis to take action, even though any mining activity requires a permit.
Tin and coal are among the natural resources most commonly hit by illegal mining in Indonesia.
A report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) obtained earlier last week said exploitation of Indonesia's vast natural resources was spinning out of control.
Kept partly in check during the authoritarian rule of former President Suharto, illegal mining of various minerals and illegal logging has flourished since his downfall in 1998.
Darmono said illegal miners had caused considerable environmental damage.
"Illegal miners do not think about the environment. They are taking as much of the commodity as possible," he said.
The impact of illegal mining across the country was starkly illustrated recently when the world's largest integrated tin producer, Indonesia's state-run PT Timah , warned it might not survive much longer because of rampant illegal mining of tin.
