The Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. (Kinandam-Sumatra Mining Company) was a Dutch colonial mining company that, in 1909, was granted mining leases for the coal concessions Bukit Durian, Bukit Pulai, and Sarik on the West coast of Atjeh — the only documented colonial-era coal-mining concessions on Atjeh territory. The Kinandam-Sumatra company’s operations, however, were modest: in the years 1917–1927 a total quantity of only 2,000 tons was produced for use at the Salida gold mine of the same company, and the mining rights for the Bukit Durian and Bukit Pulai concessions were returned to the Government in 1934, with the Sarik concession following in 1941.
The 1909 mining leases
Van Bemmelen’s account of the Kinandam-Sumatra mining leases reads:
“In 1909 mining leases were granted to the Kinandam-Sumatr Mijnbouw Mij. (Mining Co.) for the concessions Bukit Durian, Bukit Pulai, and Sarik.”
The three concessions are located in the Painan district of the Westkust van Sumatra (the residency immediately to the south of Atjeh), and the coal occurrences are described by Van Bemmelen as “all of minor importance as the coal seams, occurring in sandstone and clay shale, and ranging from a few centimeters up to 2 m in thickness, generally contain impure coal of a poor quality (soft with a tendency to crumble). Moreover, the extension of the seams is not sufficient to justify a detailed exploration.” The concessions accordingly represent a small, low-grade, structurally-complex coal occurrence that was — despite the granting of mining leases in 1909 — never economically viable as a stand-alone coal mine.
The 1917–1927 production for the Salida gold mine
The only recorded production from the Kinandam-Sumatra concessions was in the years 1917–1927, when “a total quantity of 2000 tons has been produced for use at the Salida gold mine of the same company.” The Salida gold mine — also operated by the Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. — was the principal (and perhaps the only) customer for the Bukit Durian, Bukit Pulai and Sarik coal: the coal was mined not for sale on the open market but for use as fuel at the company’s own gold mine. When the Salida gold mine was closed down, the coal-mining rights were returned to the Government: the Bukit Durian and Bukit Pulai concessions in 1934, the Sarik concession in 1941.
Significance
The Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history because it was the operator of the only documented colonial-era coal-mining concessions on Atjeh-relevant territory — the Bukit Durian, Bukit Pulai, and Sarik concessions in the Painan district of the Westkust van Sumatra (immediately to the south of the Atjeh border). The company’s modest production — 2,000 tons over the decade 1917–1927 — represents the entire recorded colonial coal production for the West-Atjeh/Painan coal zone, and the closure of the Salida gold mine and the subsequent return of the coal-mining rights to the Government (1934 and 1941) accordingly mark the end of the colonial coal-mining industry in the West-Atjeh/Painan region. The Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. is also a representative case-study of the integrated coal-and-gold mining strategy that some smaller colonial mining companies pursued: the coal was mined not as a stand-alone operation but as a fuel-supply for the company’s own gold mine, and the closure of the gold mine accordingly entailed the closure of the coal mine.
See Also
- Acheh
- Atjeh’s Westkust
- Bukit Durian
- Bukit Pulai
- Coal in Atjeh
- Salida
- Sarik
- Van Bemmelen’s The Geology of Indonesia (1949)
- 1909
- 1917
- 1927
- 1934
- 1941
Source
The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 56 (Painan district coal concessions, Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij.).