ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a series of observations, illustrating several problems with implementation of Indonesian mining environmental policy during the 1990s. It includes estimates of the value of lost profits and government royalties from failure to capture this product, and refines estimates of capital recovery periods for investments in coal washing plants based on new information. Inefficiencies of Indonesian coal mining operations and the financial and environmental consequences of fine particulate coal lost from washing operations at coal prep plants were identified in a seminal article in Indonesian Mining Journal in 1998. With higher rates of recovery, greater profits are realized by mine operators, and greater royalty revenues are paid to the government. Both results advance development goals and strengthen economic performance, important national goals in a newly industrializing country like Indonesia. It would provide an incentive for Indonesian mine operators to improve both the efficiency of mine operations and environmental quality at the mine site and surrounding environs.
