The Bumi Barito Mineral (BBM) coking coal project is an open-cut coal mine being developed in the Kalimantan province of Indonesia.
The high-quality metallurgical coal mine is jointly owned by developer Cokal (60%) and the Government of Indonesia (40%).
Recommended White Papers
A pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the project was completed in October 2012, while a definitive feasibility study (DFS) was carried out in 2014.
The preliminary construction works were started in June 2017 and the Bumi Barito coal mine is expected to commence production in 2021.
The project is expected to produce at a rate of two million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) over an estimated mine life of 10 years.
Project location and geology
The Bumi Barito coking coal mine is located in the central Kalimantan province of Indonesia.
The permit area covers a total area of approximately 14,980ha, which is divided into two parts by the Barito River.
The project is based on multiple seams of high-grade quality coal, and lies adjacent to BHP Billiton’s Indomet and Juloi coal projects in the regency of Murung Raya.
The presence of high-quality metallurgical coal at the project site was confirmed by Cokal in June 2011.
Coal reserves
The Bumi Barito coal mine is estimated to hold approximately 266.6 million tonnes (Mt) of coal reserves. The reserves are divided into four coal seam blocks, namely B, C, D, and J.
While the D and C coal blocks hold the maximum reserves of approximately 77.03Mt and 71.72Mt, the J and B blocks are estimated to hold 55Mt and 62.85Mt of coal reserves respectively.
While the measured coal resources of the project are estimated to be approximately 19.5Mt, the indicated and inferred resources are estimated to be 23.1Mt and 224Mt respectively.
Bumi Barito coal mine production plan
The Bumi Barito coal project is planned to be developed with a total of four open-pits, while the initial five-year development plan involves the operations of two pits, namely 2 and 3.
The Pit-2 will be based on the B, C, and D coal seams, and produce pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal, while the Pit-3 will extract coking coal from the J seam.
The initial production will commence at a rate of 646 kilo tonnes per annum (Ktpa) from the Pit-3 in 2021, followed by the start of production at the Pit-2 at a rate of 214Ktpa in 2022.
The total coal output from the mine is expected to be ramped up to 2Mtpa by the third year of operations.
Infrastructure facilities
The Bumi Barito coal project will have a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP) at the site for the preparation of coking and PCI coal.
The other infrastructure facilities include a 12km road to link the pits 2 and 3, a coal stockpile area, a jetty, apart from a fuel storage area, fuel tanks, site offices, and a staff camp within the mining lease of the Bumi Barito project.
Coal off-take
Cokal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Krakatau National Resources (KNR), a subsidiary of Krakatau Steel (Persero), for the supply of coal in August 2018.
Contractors involved
Harmoni Panca Utama (HPU) was awarded the mining services and exploration contract for the Bumi Barito coal project in November 2020. The scope includes project management, mine planning, survey, and supervision services for a period of five years.
Resindo was engaged by Cokal for the preparation of the definitive feasibility study (DFS) report in 2014.
SME International was contracted for the pre-feasibility study (PFS) of the project in October 2012.
GEOVIA Minex was engaged for mine planning and 3D-geological modelling services, while China Railway 21st Bureau Group International Engineering was engaged for the construction of roads, jetty and coal handling plant for the project.
