Fundamental study on revegetation of post mine surface by paper mulberry in open cut mine

Abstract

Indonesia produces over 350Mt of clean coal in 2012 and is the second largest coal exporter to Japan, accounting for 30 Mt/y. Almost of the coal produced is from open cut mines. Mining operation of open cut mines gives serious impacts on surrounding environment. Therefore, an appropriate rehabilitation program has to be taken into consideration when the mine plan is designed. The basic concept of rehabilitation in open cut mines is the creation of a stable and self-sustaining land surface in post mine surface involved the creation of conditions suitable for the establishment and permanent development of a dense cover of vegetation. Hence, the soil characteristics in rehabilitation area and adequate selection of species to plant in there have to be considered. This paper describes the current situations in rehabilitation area at one of open cut coal mine in Indonesia and then discusses the application of Paper Mulberry as one of effective species planted in post mine surface based on the laboratory tests.