Sarik is one of the three coal concessions (together with Bukit Durian and Bukit Pulai) granted to the Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. in 1909 in the Painan district of the Westkust van Sumatra (immediately to the south of the Atjeh border). The Sarik concession is one of the only documented colonial-era coal-mining concessions on Atjeh-relevant territory, and its modest production — 2,000 tons over the decade 1917–1927, shared with the Bukit Durian and Bukit Pulai concessions and entirely for use at the company’s own Salida gold mine — represents the entire recorded colonial coal production for the West-Atjeh/Painan coal zone. The Sarik mining rights were returned to the Government in 1941 — the last of the three Kinandam-Sumatra concessions to be returned, and the formal end of the colonial coal-mining industry in the West-Atjeh/Painan region.
The 1909 Kinandam-Sumatra mining lease
For the full account of the 1909 Kinandam-Sumatra mining leases and the geological description of the Painan district coal occurrences, see the entries on Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. and Bukit Durian. In summary: the 1909 mining leases for Bukit Durian, Bukit Pulai and Sarik covered coal occurrences “of minor importance”, with seams ranging from a few centimeters up to 2 m in thickness and “generally contain impure coal of a poor quality (soft with a tendency to crumble)”.
The 1917-1927 production and 1941 return
For the full account of the 1917–1927 production see the entries on Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij. and Salida. In summary: during the years 1917–1927 a total quantity of 2,000 tons was produced (from the three concessions combined) for use at the Salida gold mine. When the Salida gold mine was closed down in 1927, the mining rights for the Bukit Durian and Bukit Pulai concessions were returned to the Government in 1934; the Sarik concession was the last to be returned, with its mining rights reverted to the Government in 1941. The 1941 return of the Sarik mining rights — on the eve of the Pacific War — accordingly marks the formal end of the colonial coal-mining industry in the West-Atjeh/Painan region.
Significance
Sarik is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history because it is one of the only documented colonial-era coal-mining concessions on Atjeh-relevant territory — the 1909 Kinandam-Sumatra mining lease at Sarik in the Painan district of the Westkust van Sumatra (immediately to the south of the Atjeh border). The Sarik concession’s modest production — a share of the 2,000 tons produced over the decade 1917–1927 for use at the Salida gold mine — represents part of the entire recorded colonial coal production for the West-Atjeh/Painan coal zone. The 1941 return of the Sarik mining rights — the last of the three Kinandam-Sumatra concessions to be returned — marks the formal end of the colonial coal-mining industry in the West-Atjeh/Painan region, on the very eve of the Pacific War and the Japanese invasion that would bring the colonial mining industry as a whole to an end.
See Also
- Acheh
- Atjeh’s Westkust
- Bukit Durian
- Bukit Pulai
- Coal in Atjeh
- Kinandam-Sumatra Mijnbouw Mij.
- Salida
- 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., Bukit Durian, Bukit Pulai, and Sarik).