Haju coal mine

The Haju coal project is a proposed open cut metallurgical and thermal coal deposit which is included in the umbrella IndoMet Coal Project of BHP-Billiton. The IndoMet Coal Project is held by a joint venture in which BHP Billiton is a 75% shareholder and a subsidiary of Adaro hold the remaining 25% share.

The Haju Coal Resource is located in the Lahai Coal Contract of Work (CCoWs) and is 25 km southwest of Lampunut. In its 2012 annual report BHP Billiton reported that the project had a measured resource of only 11 million tonnes with a further 2 million tonnes as an indicated resource. The company states that the 4.6% ash, 39.2% volatile material and .98% sulphur.

The infrastructure for the mine is currently under construction with Adaro Energy reporting that the project is "on track to begin mining from the Haju mine in the third quarter of 2013."

Background
In July 2009, following the global financial crisis, BHP Billiton announced that it was shelving the Maruwai coal project after reviewing work on the Haju trial mine. In a brief media release the company stated that it had "assessed the progress of the Haju trial mine and determined it is not a sufficient fit with our long term investment strategy." It also stated that "further evaluation of the company’s interests in the Maruwai Coal Project is underway to determine the best future commercial options."

In March 2010 BHP Billiton announced that it had entered into "binding agreements to create a new joint venture for its Indonesian Coal Project (ICP) with a subsidiary of PT Adaro Energy TBK (Adaro), which has agreed to acquire a 25 per cent interest in the ICP joint venture".

Late the following year The Australian reported that BHP Billiton "plans to begin work on the $US1.34 billion ($1.3bn) IndoMet coal project in Indonesia within weeks, opening up a new mining province to help meet Asian demand." The story stated that the Haju mine was the first stage of the IndoMet project "which could be producing five million metric tonnes of coking coal annually by 2017."

Mine construction
In its 2012 annual report the company stated that "study work is underway to identify development options across our CCoWs and early work on infrastructure development has commenced."

In its Adaro Energy reports that "the IndoMet Coal Project is on track to begin mining from the Haju mine in the third quarter of 2013. The Haju mine is within the concession area held by PT Lahai Coal in Central Kalimantan. Construction of minesite accommodations, port site accommodations, administrative offices and an industrial area, is underway."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * BHP Billiton's coal interests
 * Indonesia and coal

External resources

 * Dave Murray, President BHP Billiton Metallurgical Coal, Analysts and Investors Site Visit", Queensland, June 2, 2005. (See slides 62-68 "BHP Billiton Maruwai Coal Project" for an overview of the proposed project).