JAKARTA (Reuters) -An Indonesian task force has seized a 148 hectare (366 acre) area of PT Weda Bay Nickel for not having the relevant forestry permits, mining ministry official Rilke Jeffri Huwae said on Friday.
The move is part of a wider crackdown by the government targeting the illegal exploitation of natural resources. President Prabowo Subianto said last month the government has identified over 1,000 illegal mining operations.
Rilke said PT Weda Bay Nickel has a proper mining permit, but lacks the forestry license required to exploit the area.
Weda Bay Nickel mine, controlled by China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, France’s Eramet SA and Indonesia’s Aneka Tambang, is located on the nickel-rich island of Halmahera.
The task force has also seized a 172.8 hectare mining area of PT Tonia Mitra Sejahtera in Southeast Sulawesi, said Febrie Adriansyah, a senior prosecutor at the Attorney’s General Office.
It was part of of a total of around 4.2 million hectares that have been identified as not having a proper forestry permit, he said.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina MuntheWriting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by David Stanway)
