Govt plans to auction mining permits

The issuance of permits will be carried out through an auction to reduce potential conflicts between license holders with other miners and with the people, Koran Tempo reported on Wednesday.

Thamrin Sihite, the director general of mineral and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the mining areas which would be auctioned should first receive approval from the public so that the winners of the auction would have legal certainty.

At present, miners determined themselves the location and size of the mining areas before they applied for mining permits from the government, he said. ?Many investors were later disappointed because their mining areas were already owned by other companies,? he added.

In order to support the auction system, the government will map out the mining areas for investors, the people?s mining area and land reserve areas in order to eliminate land mining dispute, Sihite said.

He said that the auction would be carried out by local governments in line with the Law No. 4.2009 on mineral and coal. Companies, cooperatives and individuals can take part in the auction. But Sihite said he was not sure when the auction system would be implemented.(*)