MINING Media International’s Regional Technical Conference (RTC) series continues this quarter with further events in Balikpapan and Jakarta. Kalimantan Mining on Thursday, August 11 in Balikpapan will examine the region’s coal industry while Mineral Processing in Jakarta on September 21 and 22 will look at technology surrounding ore processing.
These RTC events are aimed at educating and informing about technical advancements and innovations to help the mining industry optimise operations and improve productivity.
With the Indonesian Government seeking to provide value adding opportunities to the country’s abundant raw materials and the coal industry being stifled by low prices and reduced demand, the technical conferences come at an ideal time to benefit Indonesia’s mining industry.
The conferences are an opportunity to present new technologies and showcase successful use in exploration, development and operational situations throughout the Asia Pacific. With the region having so much mining potential, the RTCs provide a scientific but practical platform to outline and discuss the use of new technologies and their application in the mining industry.
The RTCs are organised by Mining Media International (MMI), which publishes The ASIA Miner, and hosts the regular Coal Club Indonesia and Djakarta Mining Club networking events.
There is a range of sponsor opportunities and these can be discussed with Dimas Abdillah in Indonesia ([email protected]) or Lanita Idrus in Australia ([email protected]).
Kalimantan Mining
Kalimantan Mining will be held at the Swiss Belhotel in Balikpapan on Thursday, August 11 in conjunction with Balikpapan Expo 2016 and a Coal Club Indonesia networking event.
The government is working to ramp up coal utilisation domestically, a move hailed by Indonesian miners in response to the lingering global coal downturn. It is expected that the government’s power capacity expansion plan for an extra 35GW of power generation through 2019, of which there will be 20GW of coal-fired power, may double domestic coal demand.
The expansion brings new opportunities for coal mining, not only with supply but also with the building of coal-fired power plants and mine mouth plants. Other opportunities for coal are with coal gasification, coal liquefaction and coal upgrading. The expected development of coal-fired power plants in neighbouring South East Asia countries also provide hopes for Indonesian miners to tap these markets.
Despite these opportunities, a number of challenges remain as miners have to cut production costs further to adapt to falling prices, which many predict will continue this year. Only companies with efficient mining practices will survive.
The main goals of RTC Kalimantan Mining are to give insight into new business opportunities for coal miners; to share experience of cost-cutting measures; and to explore the latest technology in order not only to help Indonesia coal industry remain survive but be competitive with suppliers from Australia and South Africa.
Speakers include Awang Faroek Ishak, Governor of East Kalimantan; Ben Lawson, chief operating officer, PT Sanaman Coal; Poltak Sinaga, GM Coal Processing and Handling Division, PT Kaltim Prima Coal; Bramantya Putra, operational director, PT Indo Tambangraya Megah; Hendra Sinadia, deputy executive director, Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI); and Daniel Madre, managing director, PT Danmar Explorindo.
Mineral Processing
RTC Mineral Processing will be at The Westin Hotel, Jakarta, on Wednesday, September 21 and Thursday, September 22 in conjunction with a Djakarta Mining Club networking event. This event supported by Asosiasi Perusahaan Industri Pengolahan dan Pemurnian (AP3I).
The government is proceeding with mandatory domestic mineral processing to increase the value of mineral exports and preserve the country’s mineral resources. The restriction on exports of unprocessed minerals is stimulating investments in smelters, refineries and associated infrastructure, to create new job opportunities and revenue streams.
However, the lingering drop in global commodity prices that squeezed the cash flow of miners has made the realisation of in-country processing slow-moving.
In 2016, the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal put smelter development as one of its priorities. As of December 2015, data from Directorate General shows 72 proposed smelter facilities to be developed by 89 mining business holders (IUPs) with 25 facilities reaching commissioning phase.
The mineral processing conference will highlight regulatory changes, domestic and overseas processed mineral demand and supply forecasts, strategic moves by IUPs holders to secure financing, updated smelting and processing technologies as well as infrastructure challenges in building smelters.
Speakers include Steven Brown, general manager of Business Development, PT Vale Indonesia, who will talk about the Indonesia’s mining law that has been resulted in several significant new investments, especially in nickel smelters; Jonatan Handojo, business development director, PT Indoferro, who will talk about progress of the NPI ramp-up, barriers to market growth and outlook for future production; and Alexander Barus, chief executive officer, Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, who will talk about the current status of Morowali which is designed as a large integrated nickel facility.
Also speaking will be Rich Gilman, heavy-duty specialist, Flexco. His presentation will focus on optimizing the performance of belt conveyors. He will discuss the benefits of using mechanical fasteners to splice a belt for normal and emergency situations that will greatly reduce downtime and operational cost. He will address the importance of a properly squared and skived belt prior to mechanical splice installation, mistracking issues, and wear and tear.
Anyone interested in further information about the conferences should contact Dimas Abdillah ([email protected]) on +62 21 2940 6337 in Indonesia, or Lanita Idrus ([email protected]) on +61 3 9899 2981 in Australia.