Indonesia’s East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak is considering limiting annual coal output from the region to 150 million metric tons to preserve the resource and spur the development of alternative energy.
The province, the country’s top coal producer, is expected to produce 220 million tons of power-station coal this year, Ishak told reporters at the Kalimantan Coal Conference in Balikpapan today.
Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal and a producer of resources including tin, nickel and bauxite, is trying to control mining production aimed at limiting environmental damage in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. The country banned exports of some mineral-ores starting in May, two years ahead of schedule, after exports surged.
“If we continue massive production, they will decline faster,” Ishak said, referring to the province’s coal reserves. The limitation “aims at extending mine life and we can use new and renewable energy,” he said.
Indonesian coal output in 2012 may be unchanged from a year earlier at 360 million tons, down from a previous forecast of 390 million tons, as its smallest miners cut back, Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association, said June 27.
