Indonesia Energy Ministry: Supervise Mineral and Coal Mining, Government Increases Use of Technology

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) continues to strengthen supervision of mineral and coal mining (minerba) businesses in Indonesia. Increased supervision is carried out by using a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies in image processing and geodatasets.

“We will continue to carry out integrated supervision using a combination of digital media so that improvements can be made immediately,” said Director of Coal Business Development Sujatmiko in Jakarta, Saturday (10/7).

The optimization of this technology, continued Sujatmiko, is expected to be able to provide greater benefits to mining activities and increase the contribution of mineral and coal in advancing the national economy.

For information, coal resources and reserves which currently reach 143.7 billion tons and 38.8 billion tons are used by the Government to answer issues in the energy trilemma, namely energy security, energy affordability. , and energy sustainability.

“Although many people say that coal is a dirty source of energy, in fact this coal can be used as an energy source that is sufficient and affordable for the community and cares about the environment,” explained Sujatmiko.

The magnitude of the mineral and coal contribution can be seen from the contribution in the 2020 Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) of IDR 34.65 trillion and IDR 1.67 trillion for community development and empowerment (PPM). “Of course this is not a small amount of money for the national economy,” said Sujatmiko.

It was recorded that in 2020, national coal production reached a total of 564 million tons, of which 138 million tons were used for domestic needs. “You can imagine that without coal, our electricity (tariff) would not be as cheap as it is today,” said Sujatmiko.

As a concern for environmental issues, the government continues to encourage the application of technology through clean coal technology. “This certainly fulfills the mandate as a low carbon emission energy source,” Sujatmiko hoped.