6 Provinces in Sumatra with the Most Active Mineral and Coal Mining Permits

According to the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), the floods and landslides that hit several provinces on Sumatra Island in late November 2025 were influenced by fragile environmental conditions caused by extractive industries, one of which is mineral and coal mining.

"The consecutive floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra in the past week are not merely ordinary hydrometeorological disasters, but symptoms of a spatial governance crisis on Sumatra Island," Jatam stated in a press release (28/11/2025).

"This situation can no longer be explained solely by the narrative of 'extreme weather,' but must be understood as a direct consequence of the damage to upstream ecosystems and river basins caused by extractive industries," they said.

Based on data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) processed by Jatam, there are at least 1,907 active mineral and coal mining business permit areas on Sumatra Island, covering a total area of 2.46 million hectares.

The density of these permits is concentrated in six provinces, including West Sumatra and North Sumatra, which have recently been hit by disasters. Here are the details:

• Bangka Belitung Islands: 443 permits
• Riau Islands: 338 permits
• South Sumatra: 217 permits
• West Sumatra: 200 permits
• Jambi: 195 permits
• North Sumatra: 170 permits

"Meanwhile, other provinces, such as Lampung, Bengkulu, Aceh, and Riau, are also crammed with dozens to hundreds of permits, both on land and at sea," Jatam added.

"This means that millions of hectares of forest networks, community gardens, and wetlands that once functioned as water buffers have now been transformed into excavation areas, mining infrastructure, and transport routes, which weaken the ability of river basins (DAS) to retain and slowly drain water," they said.