Void pits, reclamation and communities: coal's local footprint

Open-cut coal mining leaves a hole. Mined properly, the pit is backfilled as the work moves on, and only a final void is left, made safe and put to an agreed use. Left open, it fills with rain and groundwater and becomes a lake with steep sides.

In East Kalimantan people have drowned in those lakes year after year, children among them. For anyone buying into a coal licence, the pits on it are a legal duty and a cost, and they shape relations with the people who live nearby. All of that passes with the licence.

The record in East Kalimantan

The East Kalimantan chapter of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jaringan Advokasi Tambang, JATAM) keeps a list of people who have died in mine pits in the province. On 17 September 2026 it recorded the 55th death since 2011: an 8-year-old who drowned on 15 September 2026 in a pit about 20 metres deep in the north of Samarinda. JATAM said the pit had been left with no fence or warning sign since about 2023. Of the 55 deaths on its list, 30 were in Samarinda, the provincial capital.

Samarinda shows how the pits built up. Until Law 23 of 2014 on regional government moved mining licensing to the provinces, districts and cities issued the licences, and JATAM says that at the time they covered 71% of the city’s area. Mining went on close to homes, and pits were left open when companies stopped work or licences ended. The central government took over licensing under Law 3 of 2020, but the pits stayed where they were. Illegal digging adds pits of its own, with no licence holder to answer for them.

What the law requires

Under the Mining Law, as amended, every holder of a mining business licence (Izin Usaha Pertambangan, IUP) or a special mining business licence (IUPK) has to carry out reclamation and post-mining work as part of good mining practice. The holder submits reclamation and post-mining plans and carries them out according to the agreed use of the land after mining. While mining, it has to keep a balance between land opened and land reclaimed, and it has to manage the final void within a maximum area set by regulation. Reclaimed land is handed over, through the minister, to whoever has the right to it.

The holder also has to place reclamation and post-mining guarantees in amounts the minister sets. If it doesn’t follow the approved plan, the minister can appoint a third party to do the work with that money. Since Law 2 of 2025, the minister also has to involve regional governments in making sure reclamation is done and that communities and regions are protected from the effects of mine closure. How the guarantees are set and released is covered in reclamation and closure.

The duty outlives the licence. Anyone whose licence is revoked or expires without the reclamation, the post-mining work or the guarantees faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to IDR 100 billion, and can also be ordered to pay for the work (Article 161B). In September 2025 the ministry suspended 190 licences, 90 of them for coal, for failing to place reclamation guarantees.

What a pit can become

A final void doesn’t have to be filled in. The reclamation rules allow land to be put to a use other than replanting, such as a water source, fish farming or a tourist site, when the approved plan provides for it. A pit lake can be useful to a village that’s short of water.

It stays a hazard until it’s made safe. Pit water can be acidic or carry metals leached from the rock, so it has to be tested before anyone drinks it, farms fish in it or swims in it. Slopes have to be stable, and edges near homes or roads fenced and signed. If a lake is handed to a village or a regional government, the agreement should say who maintains it and who answers if someone is hurt.

Communities and compensation

Before production starts, the licence holder has to settle land rights with the people who hold them, and it can do so in stages as it needs the land. People directly harmed by mining have a right to fair compensation for losses caused by errors in the mining, and they can sue for losses from mining that breaks the rules.

The holder also has to run a community development programme, with a minimum budget the minister sets. Since 2025 the law says the programme covers social and environmental responsibility, the involvement of local and customary communities in mining, and business partnerships and economic programmes based in the community. It has to be prepared in consultation with the ministry, the regional government and the communities themselves.

The law also makes it an offence to obstruct a licensed mine that has settled its land rights, with up to 1 year of detention or a fine of up to IDR 100 million (Article 162). Reporting residents under that article doesn’t settle what they’re protesting about, and a buyer inherits the dispute along with the licence. Where customary claims are involved, customary land and community consent sets out how those disputes start.

What a buyer checks

• Every open pit on the licence area, its depth and water level, and whether the approved plan treats it as a final void
• The land opened against the land reclaimed, and both against the guarantees placed with the ministry
• Fences, signs and guards at each pit, and how close homes, schools and roads are
• Water quality in pit lakes, and any agreement to hand one to a village or a regional government
• Deaths and accidents on or near the area, and the complaints, police reports or lawsuits that followed
• Land compensation records, the community programme’s budget and reports, and open disputes with villages or customary communities
• Pits dug by earlier holders or illegal miners inside the area

Walk the pits with someone from the nearest village as well as with the mine’s own staff. The wider checklist is in due diligence on a coal concession.