Investment Minister: 1,118 Mining Licenses Have Been Revoked

The Investment Acceleration Task Force has revoked 1,118 coal and mineral mining licenses (IUP) as of April 24. The task force's chairman, who is also the Investment Minister/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Bahlil Lahadalia said that the total mining areas covered by the revoked licenses reached up to 2,707,443 hectares (ha): 102 nickel mining licenses with a total area of 161,254 ha; 271 coal mining licenses (914,136 ha), 14 copper mining licenses (51.563 ha), 50 bauxite mining licenses (311.294 ha), 237 tin mining licenses (374,031 ha), 59 gold mining licenses (529,869 ha), 385 mining licenses of other minerals (365,296 ha).

“What caused the revocations? So, we use four criteria and also base [the revocations] on data indicating that these IUPs, granted to business players, were not used properly," Bahlil explained at a press conference on Monday. Bahlil claimed that the government had carried out thorough examinations before revoking these licenses and did not play favorites. In fact, the task force also revoked licenses of companies owned by Bahlil's friends. “Some of them were owned by my friends, some of them were even in my former company's group. Theirs were also revoked because, to be honest, I didn't read the company's name. I only heard the letter's sound and then signed it," he elaborated.