Small-scale miners on Bangka island are concerned that they may not be allowed to mine tin because some clauses in Indonesia’s new mining and coal law, passed in December 2008, conflict with local government regulations. Rudi, vice chairman of Association of Traditional Miners in Bangka, told Reuters: "There are too many overlapping regulations. We ask the local government to push for revisions in the new mining law," he said after about 300 miners gathered in front of West Bangka legislative council building in Mentok.
Under the new law, traditional miners are allowed to mine on river banks, whereas such mining in rivers is banned by the local government, Rudi said. The new mining law also only gives miners the right to apply for a mining permit in a minimum area of 5,000 hectares, whereas traditional miners tend to work much smaller areas. "This rule would allow only a handful of people to have mining business," Rudi said.
Another important issue is the restrictions on the use of sub-contractors in the new mining law. This could affect many tin producers, including the state-owned PT Timah. Previously, PT Timah sub-contracted parts of its mining areas both onshore and offshore to local partners who would further hire independent workers to mine the ore. “With the new mining laws, Timah has to hire own workers to mine in its mines. Timah is still working out the structures to adapt to these new regulations,” Timah’s spokesman Abrun Abubakar told Metal Bulletin.
Markus, deputy speaker of the West Bangka legislative council said the council would help lobby the Bangka-Belitung provincial council for a revision of the new mining law.
