The Indonesian mining industry was dealt a double blow last week, a new Indonesian Coal Market Briefing from Greenpeace details.

On Monday 15 February Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission announced that local authorities revoked 721 mining permits in 12 provinces - 478 of which are coal-mining permits. Two days later, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) ordered Indonesian banks to stop all lending to coal-mining projects in East Kalimantan, where 28 per cent of Indonesia's coal reserves are located.

The order for banks to stop giving credit to coal mines in East Kalimantan was announced at the OJK's annual meeting. The banks, including the Regional Development Bank of East Kalimantan, were clearly told that they must not simply reduce loans, but stop lending completely as world coal prices had fallen so low that the credit risk had become unacceptable.