"The reserve potential is targeted to be enhanced by undertaking exploration activities outside the mining business permit area along with intensifying capacity-building of P3GL experts," Head of P3GL Hedi Hidayat, who inked the cooperation agreement with Business Development Director PT Timah Tbk Trenggono Sutioso, noted in a written information received by Antara in Jakarta, Saturday.
This seismic survey activity is a follow-up of a string of partnerships implemented since January 23, 2017. Under the first collaboration, P3GL and PT Timah Tbk have prepared a Road Map of P3GL Joint Survey - PT Timah 2018-2022 to serve as a reference to plan activities for future exploration around the tin or tin belt lane.
Hidayat explained that the initial seismic survey will be conducted for a month by deploying the PT Timah-owned Geotin 2 vessel. The survey applies a single-channel seismic method to acquire 1,450 kilometers of track. Furthermore, the P3GL team will conduct drilling for the thickness of the suspected sediment containing tin and scour for potential resources and pursue further exploration.
This method targets to improve the accuracy of data interpretation. The survey is expected to increase the area of PT Timah's WIUP in the territorial waters that can ultimately boost the potential for tin reserves nationwide.
P3GL holds preliminary data obtained on the basis of seismic surveys at Sunda, including the territorial waters of the Riau Islands, by deploying the Geomarin I Research Ship. P3GL and PT Timah will conduct a joint reinterpretation of the seismic data to ascertain the location of the proposed general survey to reduce exploration time and costs.
In the meantime, Trenggono is optimistic that the cooperation would boost the amount of tin sources through the addition of the location of PT Timah's IUP in the sea, which is currently 184,400 hectares. Moreover, this cooperation is expected to boost the amount of resources, including tin reserves, which at first amounted to 796 thousand tons, including 50 thousand tons of tin at sea.
Translator: Eliswan Azly
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
