Indonesia: Infrastructure Part V – Final

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 15, 2009

Indonesia: Infrastructure Part V – Final

According to ADB, projections for 2009 and 2010 assume that the Government will implement major policies outlined during the election campaign, such as fostering infrastructure development and reforming the bureaucracy. The Government plans to support development of infrastructure in 2010 through new tax incentives and expenditure of Rp93.9 trillion ($9.4 billion).

Jakarta Post reports that this month the Government will review a presidential regulation on public-private partnerships (PPP) and a presidential decree on government project procurement rules to ease bottlenecks hampering development. In particular, a new provision to the presidential regulation No 67/2005 on PPP will be added — so that a government private partner can divest its share in an infrastructure project, which it won through a bidding process, to another company. Another major issue to be resolved is the land acquisition. According to Jakarta Post a total of Rp 2,100 trillion (US$222.5 billion) is needed to finance infrastructure projects in the country annually, of which the Government can only provide 15 percent. The other Government estimates are reflected in this Table:

Source:  PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN ASIAN RAILWAYS

Foreign investors show a keen interest in Indonesian Infrastructure. This was confirmed this week by the Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce Robert S. Milligan: “It seems that the infrastructure sector was the most attractive one. The sector we can develop is, for instance, toll roads.” Also this week Indonesian President discussed in Singapore expansion of Chinese participation in the matter.

One of the key issues in Infrastructure financing is the funding required for its maintenance. This graph shows required sums:

Source: Ministry of Transportation

Within the limits of Internet Blog it is impossible to cover such immense issue –  Infrastructure development n Indonesia. However, in addition to already supplied,  I would like to add more useful links to documents that may be helpful in research on the subject:
First, and the most informative is Public-Private Partnerships. Infrastructure Projects in Indonesia

This is a complete official list of PPP projects for investors

• Infrastructure Development in Indonesia
• INDONESIA INFRASTRUCTURE: BUILDING INDONESIA’S ECONOMIC FUTURE
• Infrastructure PPP in Indonesia
• Australian participation in Infrastructure projects
• AUSTRALIAN INDII
• STRATEGIC INITIATIVES TO ACCELERATE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA
• Public Private Partnership on Transportation Infrastructure in Indonesia
• REBUILDING THE INDONESIA INFRASTRUCTURE
• TollRoads Private Sector

This ends my brief survey of Infrastructure projects in Indonesia – of course, it is a small part of all information available – but, in my thinking, gives an idea on this important issue???

Asia Mining: Manganese

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 07, 2009

Asia Mining: Manganese

Continuing our posts about major minerals and their production this time we turn out attention to  manganese. This nice picture from Wikipedia shows it:

Manganese  is a key component in steel and iron production – this is up to 90 percent of the metal’s current consumption. It also is important in low-cost stainless steel formulations and aluminum alloys.  This is the fourth most heavily consumed metal – behind iron, aluminum and copper. About 34 million tons of manganese ore were mined in 2006; the global unit consumption of manganese ferroalloys was approximately 10 kilograms alloy per metric ton of steel produced.
According to InfoMine:
Top producing companies: Joint Venture between BHP Billiton and Anglo American Plc, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, Privat-Holding ( Kolomoyskiy ) Group , Eramet Group, Ghana Manganese Co Ltd, Harmony Gold, Assore Ltd, State of Gabon , Manganese Ore ( India ) Ltd, Nakosta AG
Top producing countries: South Africa, Brazil, Gabon, Australia, China, Ukraine, India, Mexico.
Van Eck Associates Corporation via their informative Web-service HardAssetsInvestor.com just released a detailed analysis “Manganese – an unsung hero” .
A very good materials are presented in Manganese: Alloy and Ore Market Outlook by ENRC, a public Kazakh company – detailed description of mineral, properties, applications and market (current and projections):

InfoMine has abundance of information on manganese.
Although Indonesia is not listed in the top of manganese producing countries, as you may see in our previous post – the country does have resources, but at the time of table (2005) – no production. But as on now – Alibaba  lists more than 200 suppliers of Indonesian manganese ore. More information can be found in Manganese Indonesia – Manganese Indonesia sellers, suppliers, traders, buyers, trade leads. A few years ago it was reported that Chinese Guangxi Dameng Manganese Co. Ltd. plans to collaborate with Jiawang Group to develop manganese resources in Kalimantan State, and will invest funds to acquire a 50 percent stake in the project.
And here is a list of useful manganese Web- references:

• Australian Manganese Resources – a nice map
• Mineral Information Institute
• The Manganese Ore Resources in China and their Prospecting by China Geological Survey
• China Mn Ore Resource Overview
• International Manganese Institute
• U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2008
• Manganese Statistics and Information USGS
• MAC: Mines and Communities

ASIA MINING – Practical Hints

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 22, 2009

In our practical business activity we spent a lot of time looking for solutions to lots of questions that we have to tackle. I want to share some information that is very handy in this life – so that is the reason for the posts under this caption: Practical Hints. This is not advertising – just practical advice!!!

HINT # 1. We start with a very useful book that is introduced on the Net:

Mining eBook - A New Investor’s Guide to the Mining Industry 

Will teach you how to interpret and understand company news releases, drill results, technical reports, secrets of the pros, how to “read between the lines” and so much more, regardless of the geotechnical jargon used. In particular, it speaks about: The investment cycle and what it means for mining stocks; The drilling process and how to understand drill results; How to read between the lines and learn secrets of the pros; How to analyze news releases and technical reports; What those geology terms actually mean; The mining process from start to finish; Different exploration techniques – and many more. For a very small price it can be bought on-line at this link.

HINT #2. In my practical sales activity I found very difficult to find any information and establish direct contacts with Chinese buyers. There are lots of intermediaries; and the big Chinese companies do have their Web-sites, that have contact information. BUT: the only way is to contact them – is by phone (which is rather tedious process due to language problems). I have never received any feedback from e-mail addresses that are posted on Web-sites. So, there is a B2B Web portal that offers something:

 Very specific name for sales of minerals, but it is so…. This is a very a very peculiar way for doing business, and it reminds a huge Chinese flea market with literally everything there. But the systematic search may result in finding of billboards that deal with sales of minerals: alumina, coal and iron ore.

For example, the page titled BUY-MINERAL lists everything that you may imagine: from ‘mineral water’ and ‘naked mineral cosmetics’ (what a fancy name!) to barites and alumina

Mineral Education

 Mining is spread all over the world. In any part of the world you may meet people from different countries, and I have experienced it myself. It started with business lounge in Jakarta’s Marriott, and continued at the bar at my apartment complex in Taman Rasuna. While these people I met are very rather seasoned experts, I assume that younger generation is still at learning.

A rather interesting set of facts is provided in a recent article: “Notwithstanding the current commodity slump, there is a demographic time bomb ticking in the mineral sector as the baby boomers get ready to retire. It is believed that 60 per cent of geo scientists – the people who find new mineral deposits – in Canada will be 65 or older by 2015. In early 2008, the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MIHR) projected that mining industry yearly labour requirements face three scenarios: high-growth (9,200), no-growth (6,200), and industry contraction (4,600), until 2016. These were only based on retirements.”

Well, where does the younger generation get the Mineral Education?

The simplest answer – the Internet. Of course the Mining Education resources are not that abundant, as compared with, let us say, electronics, but there are good Web-sites too.

First I would recommend to upload a very good pamphlet form USGS: “The Life Cycle of a Mineral Deposit—A Teacher’s Guide for Hands-On Mineral Education Activities”. This amazing book defines what a mineral deposit is and how a mineral deposit is identified and measured, how the mineral resources are extracted, and how the mining site is reclaimed; how minerals and mineral resources are processed; and how we use mineral resources in our everyday lives.

You may spend a couple of days exploring the Web-site of Mineral Information Institute that in my opinion is the best educational source for mining neophytes.  Here is the world famous MIIBaby:

The Mineral Information Institute is a U.S. not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating youth about the science of minerals and other natural resources, and about their importance in our everyday lives. There are numerous teaching materials

Just for an example download one of their Teacher packets

The National Mining Association is also a good source of valuable information. Their latest product is Mountain Top Mining Book

Other worthy sources are:

  ResponsibleGold.org, an information source for consumers of gold products provided by the world’s premier gold producers and The Silver Institute – these two provide very detailed information on the subjects.

A much respected site is Society for Mining Metallurgy and Exploration – but it requires paid registration.

Women in Mining offers good sources of minerals information  

What about educational Institutions? Traditionally, there are many of them in the USA and Canada. We need to mention University of Toronto with it’s over 100 year’s history of mining education. It is nicely described here.

  Laurentian University – one of the biggest in Canada – has a sound mining education facilities. In fact, there are suggestions to “consolidate the province’s scattered post-secondary mineral education programs at Laurentian University and establish a world-class centre of excellence – a Harvard of the Mining Sector”

Probably the Blog readers may suggest to us some new sources of educational information on the Net; and tell about more distinguished educational centers???