Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Revokes Licenses of 2,078 Mineral and Coal Mining Businesses: Here's the Distribution!

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) revoked 2,078 mining business licenses (IUP) for minerals and coal on Thursday, January 6, 2021. The revocation was due to licenses that were not operational, unproductive, transferred to other parties, or not in accordance with their intended purpose and regulations.

Citing the Ministry of ESDM, 1,776 mineral IUPs were revoked, including those for metal minerals, non-metal minerals, and rocks. These licenses covered a total area of 2,236,259 hectares (ha).

These mineral IUP areas encompassed the provinces of Bengkulu, Jambi, South Sumatra, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta Special Region, East Java, West Kalimantan, Bangka Belitung Islands, Riau Islands, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi.

Furthermore, 302 coal mining companies with a total area of 964,787 hectares also had their licenses revoked. These mining operations were spread across the provinces of Bengkulu, Jambi, Riau, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi.

Previously, the Ministry of ESDM evaluated 5,600 existing mining business licenses and found 2,350 that were not operational. Ultimately, the government revoked 2,078 licenses.