Indonesian mining firms find it tough going

IT WAS barely four in the morning and Rosmin Mulyadi was already ferrying passengers. Armed with a Nokia analogue phone, he was busy answering calls from local residents who needed a ride across the Kapuas River in West Kalimantan on his speedboat.

Clad in a weather-worn T-shirt, faded camouflaged bermudas and a baseball cap, the 36-year-old carried a small pouch to keep his earnings and slung his phone around his neck. His livelihood used to revolve around the needs of the mining workers commuting across the river, but since Indonesia's mineral export ban in January 2014, he is struggling to find passengers.

Mr Mulyadi, who now ferries local residents and rubber plantation workers, said his earnings plunged after the ban. He used to earn about 400,000 rupiah (S$41) a day. But one year on since the ban, he can "at most earn about 200,000 rupiah".