Reuters reported that Singapore listed coal miner Straits Asia Resources new coal loading facility at its Jembayan mine in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province has collapsed due to heavy rain.

Straits Asia said that it is investigating the extent of damage and the potential impact on the future operation of the newly commissioned facility. It said that the facility will not be able to load its coal output for some time.

Straits Asia blamed the collapse on several days of rain in the area which caused erosion and failure of the foundation structure of the facility. The company said that Jembayan mine site operates 2 load out trains at the mine and the old facility with a nominal annual capacity of 5.5 million tonnes, does not appear to be affected by this event.

It said that "All other mining activities at Jembayan continue to function normally and all reasonable steps are being undertaken to mitigate the impact of this event."

Straits Asia which exports most of its output to power plants in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India, plans to boost its production from its 2 coal mines in East Kalimantan province to 9.5 million tonnes in 2009 from 8.6 million tonnes 2008.

(Sourced from Reuters)