Morgan Stanley, CIMB Securities, and Credit Suisse will underwrite the initial public offering of PT Borneo Lumbung Energi (Borneo Energy), a company that owns Asmin Koalindo Tuhup, a mining company that operates in Central Kalimantan in Indonesia Borneo, reports ANTARA.
The listing aims to raise roughly $250 by selling 30 percent of the firm on the Indonesian Stock Exchange.
The news comes on the same day that India’s state-run National Aluminum Co. Ltd (NALCO) said it plans to “buy stakes in Indonesian coal mines to secure supplies for its aluminum project in East Kalimantan,” according to Reuters. Nalco said it is seeking to buy 8-10 million metric tons per year of thermal coal, half of which would go towards its Borneo operation and half of which would be shipped abroad.
The Borneo Energy offering may prove controversial for the underwriters, with environmentalists ramping up campaigns around coal production in Borneo. Green groups fear that increased coal production could increase deforestation and pollution on the rainforest island, while boosting greenhouse gas emissions globally. Today, two UK-based organizations published reports on coal mining: Mines and Communities, an activist network, released Dark Materials, a paper which details increased coal use in Asia, while Down To Earth issued a sister report on coal mining in Indonesia.
Activist efforts recently have focused on a proposed coal-fired plant in Sabah, Malaysia, on the northern part of Borneo. The plant, which would come second-hand from China and be supplied with coal from Kalimantan, would be situated between a protected rainforest reserve and the world-renowned Coral Triangle. Analysis by Daniel M. Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at Berkeley, has shown that Sabah has cleaner energy options than the coal plant, a finding that has increased opposition to the plant.
Although it doesn’t rank among the world’s top ten in coal reserves, Indonesia was the fifth largest coal producer in 2009 following China, the U.S., Australia and India. It is the largest exporter of thermal coal.
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(03/17/2010) Plans for a coal power plant in the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo have run into stiff opposition. Environmentalists say the coal plant could damage extensive coral reef systems, pollute water supplies, open rainforests to mining, and contribute to global climate change, undercutting Sabah’s image as a ‘green’ destination. The federal government contends that the coal plant is necessary to fix Sabah’s energy problems. However, a recent energy audit by the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at the University of California Berkeley shows that pollution-intensive coal doesn’t have to be in Sabah’s future.
