By Cepi Setiadi
Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed China Qinfa Group Limited has reaffirmed its commitment to modernizing Indonesia’s coal industry through the development of its Qinfa SDE No. 1 Coal Washing Plant in South Kalimantan. The facility is positioned to become a flagship project in advancing efficient, eco-conscious, and intelligent coal processing technologies in the region.
According to Chen Guang, CEO of Energy Industrial Park at Qinfa Group, the washing plant is equipped with dry selection equipment boasting an annual processing capacity of 3 million tons. This capacity is designed to fully support the efficient processing requirements for the first phase of the SDE underground coal mine.
Speaking at the Indonesia Clean Coal and Green Mining Conference 2025, Thursday (May 15), Chen highlighted that the SDE mine has a planned raw coal production capacity of 20 million tons per year (2x10 million tons), making it the largest underground coal mine in the Southern Hemisphere.
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In addition, the mine features a 550-meter-wide longwall working face, which Chen noted is currently the widest longwall face in the world, underscoring Qinfa’s position at the forefront of global mining innovation.
Qinfa Group first announced the start of operations at the Sumber Daya Energi (SDE) underground coal mine in December 2023. The mine is designed with production capacity up to approximately 10 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of coal. The mine is the only operating underground coal mine in Indonesia. SDE Coal Mine was estimated to have probable coal reserves of approximately 293 million tonnes and coal resources of approximately 589 million tonnes as at 31 December 2021. China Qinfa has invested around US$ 300 million to develop the mine.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak
