Mining Policy Research Articles

IMPLEMENTASI KEBIJAKAN PERTAMBANGAN BATUBARA DI KOTA SAWAHLUNTO

The coal mining sector is a strategic sector in efforts to improve welfare, but coal mining activities can result in changes to the physical environment and have an impact on changes in social, cultural and economic life. The implementation of coal mining policies in the City of Sawahlunto where problems that arise are incompatibility with existing regulations and SOP with conditions in the field. The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation of coal mining policies in the City of Sawahlunto and the inhibiting factors for the implementation of coal mining policies in the City of Sawahlunto. The theoretical concept used in this research is the theory of public policy implementation by Donald Van Metter & Carl Van Horn. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The results of this study indicate that the implementation of coal mining policies in the City of Sawahlunto has not run optimally due to constraints on the implementation of the policy on resource indicators, the characteristics of implementing agents and social, political and economic impacts. Factors that become obstacles in implementing the policy are environmental damage and pollution due to coal mining business/activities, there are individuals who do not comply with SOP, lack/limitation of local workforce in the coal mining sector.

Bargaining Position of The Government in the Mining Sector Regarding the Change to a Special Mining Business Permit

Mineral and coal mining activities in Indonesia have been going on for a long time, and because of this, many legal instruments that support it have certainly been formed. Its arrangements regarding the exploitation of minerals and coal are in accordance with Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, however, because the Minerba Law was only able to reach legal actions after the publication of the Minerba Law, matters related to contracts of work that existed before the Minerba Law were not covered. The existence of a contract of work is considered inconsistent with Pancasila, namely the Fifth Precept “Social Justice for All Indonesian People” and Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution concerning the substance of earth, water and natural resources “controlled by the state” and “used for the greatest prosperity of the people” . Post-reform, with the spirit of decentralization and regional autonomy, mining policy was directed at supporting mining management authority by local governments, and at the same time, an concession system based on mining business licenses was introduced. Contracts of work, which are standard agreements, should provide a greater portion of profits to the Indonesian people as owners of natural resources, because they have a higher bargaining position. In reality, by becoming a party to a contract of work, it does not give the Indonesian government a balanced bargaining position. To be able to accommodate the interests of the community in terms of cooperation contracts in the field of mining exploitation, it is necessary to revise existing contracts by incorporating provisions that are legally binding on business actors and the Government, especially those relating to aspects of community development and the implementation of social responsibility of business actors.

The mining permitting process in selected developed economies

This article surveys the mining permitting process and discusses the process to obtain permits for the exploration and mining of metals in five industrialised countries: Sweden, Finland, Poland, Western Australia (Australia) and Ontario (Canada). The purpose is to provide an overview of the permitting process when the demand for metals may grow at a faster pace than ever before. The countries have been chosen for their well-developed mining industries while still representing different historical and legal backgrounds and traditions. Focus lies on three aspects of the permitting process: Mining policy, legislation and permits; Environmental legislation and permits and; Stakeholder influence/participation including appeals. We describe the present situation in all countries in detail. The mining policy and legislation in the countries studied are converging and the mining laws are becoming increasingly similar. Legislation is being revised at shorter intervals, and minor additions and amendments can be made in between completely new legislation. In all the five countries emphasis is placed on ensuring that the permitting process is transparent and open from the first exploration steps to the closure of a depleted mine. Governments are developing new policies, legislation, regulations and permitting processes to ensure that the growing demand can be met while at the same time the increasing demands by various stakeholders on land use, environmental and social developments can increasingly be included in the permitting process.

Fleet Ownership Model for Mineral Export Products Concerning Indonesia’s Downstream Mineral Policy: A Case Study of Copper Ore Exports

Indonesia’s copper ore has a contribution of 3% in the world’s copper ore needs and has rank of the 5th largest export of mining materials after briquette, kerosene, coal, and crude oil. According to Mineral and Coal Mining Law Number 4 of 2009 that raw materials of mining products have been prohibited to be exported including copper ore due to increasing the value of mineral export products. Thus, it would affect to the current copper ore shipment, which should firstly be processed by smelter to be work-in-process products, namely cathodes. In order to comply with the downstream policy, this study aimed to select the optimum vessel used for delivering copper ores to smelter as well as to define the minimum unit cost for transporting cathodes from smelter to importing countries. The method of non-linear programming was used to produce the minimum unit cost of transport for these three scenarios of fleet ownership model: (1) charter vessel, (2) new shipbuilding vessel, (3) second-hand vessel. The results obtained that the selected domestic ship was a new shipbuilding scenario with the type of bulk carrier, transporting copper ores from site to smelter. Meanwhile, the selected export ship was a voyage charter scenario with the type of general cargo vessel, delivering cathodes from smelter to importing countries.

Response of Indonesian mineral supply to global renewable energy generation: Analysis based on gravity model approach

The captivating surge of energy transitions in the major industrialized nations has elevated the global demand for critical minerals. The demand pattern has enabled mineral-abundant emerging economies like Indonesia to enter the international market by exporting mineral goods. Accordingly, we investigate the Indonesian mineral export supply's response to the renewable energy production of the 18 clean energy-generating countries, considering crude oil and mineral prices, exchange rates, and economic growth of the resource and importer countries from 1990 to 2020. In doing so, we apply the Poisson Pseudo-maximum Likelihood (PPML) approach to measuring the panel gravity model for mineral exports in Indonesia. As a result, we observe a significant response of Indonesia's mineral export supply to the renewable energy generation of the 18 mineral importing countries. Besides, mineral and crude oil prices are insignificant, whereas the importer countries' exchange rates and income growth positively influence Indonesia's mineral export growth. However, Indonesia's income factor negatively affects its mineral export supply. Finally, we validate our results using an alternative estimator, the Driscoll-Kraay robust standard error estimation technique. Therefore, our findings suggest implementing Indonesia's existing mineral policy to produce finished mineral goods to materialize the worldwide vision of energy transitions toward a crossroad of net-zero emissions by the middle of the current century.

Chile: On the road to global sustainable mining

The energy transition relies heavily on minerals such as copper and lithium. In today's modern world, where consumers are increasingly aware of the need to protect tomorrow's natural resources, mining is expected to be not only economical but also socially and environmentally sustainable. In light of this, mining production must be competitive in these three dimensions of sustainability to meet demand, understanding that consumers will prefer a more sustainable material. This study aims to comprehend the competitiveness of copper and lithium Chilean production from a sustainable perspective using a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) developed by a panel of experts.Based on an analysis of 165 factors driving mining's sustainability, the copper industry in Chile ranks third in the sustainability ranking for the world, while lithium ranks second. The foregoing implies that Chile, the world's leading producer of copper and second global producer of lithium, still has room to improve sustainability by introducing the following measures: (1) improving effective communication among stakeholders; (2) disseminating sustainability knowledge; (3) developing State mining policies; (4) restoring stability in the country; (5) developing a sustainable quality brand of Chilean commodities; and (6) capitalizing on valuable human capital.

Assessment of mine post-closure strategies by integrating evidential reasoning and fuzzy cognitive maps: Toward sustainable mining policy

This study proposes a novel framework based on evidential reasoning and fuzzy cognitive map to evaluate post-closure strategies for open-pit mine reclamation, with a focus on sustainable mining. The framework enables a reasonable assessment of multiple strategies and criteria within a complex dynamic decision analysis system under uncertainty. This study introduces two novel aspects: linking the weight outputs of fuzzy cognitive maps to the evidential reasoning process and considering a broad range of criteria and reclamation strategies toward sustainable mining. This study considers various strategies, focusing on tailings, waste rocks, and demolition materials as filling materials to reclaim pits and reduce mine waste footprints. In evidential reasoning, causal weights were determined by a fuzzy cognitive map, which revealed that social criteria with a causal weight >0.96 were found the highest impact on cause-and-effect. The framework was applied to a large-scale mine with high discontinuities and acidity potentials, a local ecosystem with a high piezometric level, and low rainfall. A post-closure strategy using tailings as the main filling material was found most suitable, as it eliminates material transport and supply costs and reduces the adverse environmental effects and social complaints.

Decoding Chambal River Shoreline Transformations: A Comprehensive Analysis Using Remote Sensing, GIS, and DSAS

Illegal sand mining has been identified as a significant cause of harm to riverbanks, as it leads to excessive removal of sand from rivers and negatively impacts river shorelines. This investigation aimed to identify instances of shoreline erosion and accretion at illegal sand mining sites along the Chambal River. These sites were selected based on a report submitted by the Director of the National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS) to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of India. The digital shoreline analysis system (DSAS v5.1) was used during the elapsed period from 1990 to 2020. Three statistical parameters used in DSAS—the shoreline change envelope (SCE), endpoint rate (EPR), and net shoreline movement (NSM)—quantify the rates of shoreline changes in the form of erosion and accretion patterns. To carry out this study, Landsat imagery data (T.M., ETM+, and OLI) and Sentinel-2A/MSI from 1990 to 2020 were used to analyze river shoreline erosion and accretion. The normalized difference water index (NDWI) and modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI) were used to detect riverbanks in satellite images. The investigation results indicated that erosion was observed at all illegal mining sites, with the highest erosion rate of 1.26 m/year at the Sewarpali site. On the other hand, the highest accretion was identified at the Chandilpura site, with a rate of 0.63 m/year. We observed significant changes in river shorelines at illegal mining and unmined sites. Erosion and accretion at unmined sites are recorded at −0.18 m/year and 0.19 m/year, respectively, which are minor compared to mining sites. This study’s findings on the effects of illegal sand mining on river shorelines will be helpful in the sustainable management and conservation of river ecosystems. These results can also help to develop and implement river sand mining policies that protect river ecosystems from the long-term effects of illegal sand mining.

PENERAPAN KEBIJAKAN PUBLIK DALAM UPAYA PENCEGAHAN PERTAMBANGAN ILLEGAL BAHAN GALIAN C (STUDI KASUS DI KECAMATAN BATAUGA KABUPATEN BUTON SELATAN)

Indonesia is known as a producer of abundant natural resources, one of which is mining materials such as sand, gold, copper, nickel, coal, tin. The existence of a wealth of mining materials in Indonesia raises polemics regarding illegal mining activities or mining without permits. Batauga District is one of the areas in South Buton Regency which has the potential for mining C in the form of a sand mine which can produce in quite large quantities. With the potential for sand mining in Batauga District, it has negative impacts related to environmental preservation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the application of public policy in preventing the mining of mineral C in Batauga District, South Buton Regency. The method used in this research is qualitative by using literature study techniques. The findings from this research are that the implementation of mineral C mining policies in Batauga District in preventing illegal mining is still low, both in terms of organizational activities, interpretation and application. solutions that can be applied to overcome the problem of illegal mining in Batauga District, include: the reformulation of regulations, the government making repressive efforts, improving bureaucracy, and the Government conducting outreach to the community.

The politics of implementation: Social movements and mining policy implementation in Guatemala

This study examines the way Guatemalan antimining movements engaged with the state bureaucracy during the policy implementation process. It contributes to the literature on social movement impacts on megaproject development by identifying the direct and indirect mechanisms that movement leaders used to interact with state institutions and change the way policy was put into effect. Two mechanisms employed by resisters are found to be influential. The first involves the use of strategic litigation to challenge the legality of mine licenses and secure the suspension of operations through court rulings. The second involves direct engagement with the state mining bureaucracy as resisters pursue participation in community consultations as part of the revised mine licensing process. This study shows how movements can press for impact even in the late stage of policymaking as they add participatory mechanisms and stoke institutional development. While significant, such outcomes require an enabling context that may be difficult to sustain. Unless policymakers incorporate inclusive participatory practices and transparency requirements into the rule-making and enforcement work of state bureaucracies, public influence is likely to be limited.

Assessing the Implementation of the Key Tenets of the African Mining Vision with Zambia’s Key Mining Policy on Artisanal and Small Scale Mining

Purpose: The Africa Mining Vision (AMV) is a policy framework that was created by the African Union in 2009 to ensure that Africa utilizes its mineral resources strategically for broad-based, inclusive development. It is a blueprint tailored at addressing numerous challenges that has faced the sector in the past and at the core, improve the Livelihoods of local communities.
 Methodology: The study used desktop literature method. The study involved reviewing the key government policy documents relating to ASM and mining in general. The study reviewed the 7th National development plan, the amended Mines and minerals development Act of 2016 and Mosi-oa-Tunya declaration.
 Findings: This article, however, finds that 12 years after its inception, the AMV framework has not been fully implemented to address the critical constraints and leverage success factors in forging the creation of resilient communities around the ASM sub sector.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: There is generally a low level of awareness of the framework among key stakeholders and there is no clear policy direction, and or gap analysis to determine the obstacles to its implementation. This article derives its findings through accessing the Zambian Mining policy documents on ASM and mapping it with the key tenets of the AMV.

A Framework for Geoconservation in Mining Landscapes: Opportunities for Geopark and GEOfood Approaches in Minas Gerais, Brazil

The continuous processes of mining development, since the very beginning of Minas Gerais State’s development, have been giving new attention and meaning to valuable pre-existing features (i.e., cultural, social, and physical-environmental), impacting and recharacterizing not only its municipalities but their essential local or native sociocultural components. At the same time, mining, as one of the central pillars of the Brazilian development model, has put different communities, natural and cultural heritage, and mineral and water resources at risk. The wide concept of geodiversity and the related geoheritage emerge as an alternative for conservation, territorial planning, and sustainable development, to reconcile these spheres. This study developed a comprehensive framework for geoconservation within selected areas of mining landscapes, contributing to insights for the creation of a catalog about geoheritage in the state of Minas Gerais, discussing and analyzing well-established strategies and opportunities based on UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) and the GEOfood brand. We concluded that the mining landscapes of Minas Gerais must be administered as a viable possibility for economic and environmental dynamic actions and activities, strengthening the maintenance of municipalities from the very beginning to after the end of operational activities. Heritage programs such as UGGp and GEOfood enable knowledge sharing and engagement with geoheritage, improving the comprehension and management of the short- and long-term impacts of mining, while elevating geodiversity as a major source of information in the “greening” of mining policies.

Law Enforcement of Reclamation and Post Coal Mining Policy in East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia

East Kalimantan has a large coal reserve and is the center of the mining industry which contributes greatly to Indonesia's economy. However, the impact of the coal mining industry to the environment is extremely worrying. This is because the company's compliance in carrying out reclamation and post-mining obligations is very lacking. This study aims to evaluate as well as strengthen the law enforcement of reclamation and post-coal mining policies in East Kalimantan. The research method used is sociolegal, by making observations around the mining area in East Kalimantan and supported by secondary data which is analyzed using the interpretation method. The results of this study indicate the factors that affect the weakness of law enforcement in implementing reclamation and post-mining policies, namely: (a) non-compliance by mining companies; (b) multiple interpretations and non-operational reclamation and post-mining regulations; (c) weak supervision of mining activities; and (d) low public awareness. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the law enforcement for reclamation and post-coal mining in East Kalimantan, which can be done through: 1) legal substance; 2) legal structure; 3) community's legal culture; 4) improvement of facilities and infrastructure; and 5) the utilization of technology.

Deep Reinforcement Clustering

Deep clustering has attracted plentiful attention in various domains owning to the superior performance. However, the previous deep clustering methods are guided by pre-specified clustering strategies that lack sustained explorations of data structures, degrading recognition of intrinsic patterns hidden in data. To address this challenge, deep reinforcement clustering (DRC) is proposed to learn an adaptive partition policy for pattern mining, which can fully explore structure knowledge of data in an adaptive manner. DRC is defined as a Markov decision process of data partitions, which chooses the optimal cluster prototype for data via maximizing the cumulative reward in state transition of environment. To implement the definition, a Bernoulli action prototype is devised to capture decision distributions in the transition of states, where the heavy-tailed Cauchy distribution precisely measures the structure divergences of data. Furthermore, a reward maximizing policy is designed to guide sustained explorations of data structures, which ensures intra-cluster compactness and inter-cluster separation of data partitions. Finally, extensive experiments are conducted on eight benchmark datasets, and the results demonstrate that DRC outperforms the state-of-the-art baseline methods.

Argumentation Strategies and Linguistic Features of the Philippine Mining Policy: A Discourse Historical Analysis

This study analyzes the argumentation strategies and linguistic features of the Philippine mining policy using Discourse Historical Approach and Gunnarsson’s (1984) theory on functional comprehensibility of legislative texts. Two intercoders validated the manual analysis, while UAM Corpus Tool, a linguistic tagging software, was used to identify the linguistic feature of the policy. Interviews with local legislators were also carried out to provide a holistic interpretation of the mining policies. Results reveal that the mining policy hinged on the topoi of duty, authority, and justice while its linguistic features reflect the conventions of legislative genre, heavily loaded with registers identifiable to members of a legalese community. Further, the policy generally contains action-directing orientation and the modal, shall, which are both indicative of the sense of urgency and accountability in the execution of duties and responsibilities. Results further indicate the salient role of the state in the environmental management and balanced use of resources of the country and in ensuring the protection of the rights of its citizens, particularly the marginalized ones.

Towards a sustainable artisanal gold mining sector in South Africa: Proposed developmental initiatives

South Africa's Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) of 2002 addresses the socio-economic injustices of the post-Apartheid (after 1994) era. Additionally, the Act stipulates that a mining permit or licence is required to mine lawfully. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities that occur without a mining permit, therefore, are illegal and criminalised. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in South Africa recently released the draft Artisanal and Small-Scale mining policy for implementation in March 2022. The announcement of this policy is the first step in formalising the artisanal mining sector in South Africa. Yet, formalisation strategies often fail in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of Africa. Consequently, the artisanal mining sector continues to operate informally or, in many cases, in an illegal setting. This paper argues that efforts should be directed toward addressing the sector's challenges, and the formalisation process ought to be viewed as an ongoing process. This article outlines developmental initiatives that industry players can apply to support the sector's challenges as part of a formalisation strategy. Ultimately, this will create opportunities where historically disadvantaged people can benefit from South Africa's mineral resources.

Block Caving Mining Method: Transformation and Its Potency in Indonesia

The block caving mining method has become increasingly popular in the last two decades. Meanwhile, Indonesia has several potential ore bodies which have not yet determined suitable mining methods. The references to block caving mining projects worldwide and the potency of metal deposits in Indonesia were reviewed to determine the requirements of ore bodies suitable for mining using the transformed block caving method. This method can be applied on a blocky ore body with a thickness of 200–800 m, various rock mass strengths until 300 MPa, from low to high (from 0.3% Cu until more than 1.0% Cu), but of uniform grade and at a depth from 500 to 2200 m. The technical specifications for running block caving mines have been synthesized, including preparation methods, undercutting strategy, mine design, mining equipment and monitoring. Considering the requirements and the successful practice of the block caving project in the Grasberg Caving Complex as a role model, the Indonesian government should concentrate on the detailed exploration of porphyry deposits and feasibility studies on applying the method to the prospective ore bodies, i.e., Onto, Tambulilato, Tumpangpitu and Randu Kuning. In addition, the exploration method, cost, operation, environment, mining policy and social geology are important aspects worth noting.

Mapping Sandy Titano-Uraniferous Deposits in Tabou Region, South-West Cote d’Ivoire: Contribution of Magnetometry and Gamma-Ray Spectrometry

The work of the Geological and Mining Research Office (BRGM) in Côte d'Ivoire, with Tagini and Papon, has revealed, in addition to substances such as gold and manganese, indications of nuclear substances in some areas of the country. Côte d'Ivoire's mining policy is to develop the riches of its subsoil. The lack of information on the reserves of nuclear substances does not currently allow the Ivorian state to exploit these nuclear resources. This work is part of the framework to deepen our knowledge on these substances.Carried out in the south-west of Côte d'Ivoire, along the coast, this study confirmed the reported uraniferous indications and helped to identify their origin. Uranium accumulations were found in beach sediments in significant quantities between Bliéron and Soublaké. Keywords : Uranium, Magnetometry, Gamma-ray spectrometry, Tabou, Côte d’Ivoire. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/12-11-02 Publication date: November 30 th 2022

Latin American Extractivism: Dependency, Resource Nationalism, and Resistance in Broad Perspective

Latin American Extractivism: Dependency, Resource Nationalism, and Resistance in Broad Perspective

Korea Mining Policy for 60 Years: Retrospect and Future Prospect

Korea Mining Policy for 60 Years: Retrospect and Future Prospect