1970
Rio Tinto Indonesia, which was owned by Conzinc Rio Tinto Australia, engaged with British Petroleum (BP) to collaborate in coal exploration activities in Indonesia.
1978
The Government of Indonesia invited foreign companies to join coal exploration tenders for East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan areas.
1982
PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) signed a Coal Contract of Work (CCoW) with Perum Tambang Batu, which is now known as PT Tambang Bara Bukit Asam (PTBA) that represented the Government of Indonesia. The contract agreement covers exploration, production and marketing activities.
1982 – 1986
KPC conducted comprehensive exploration activities in the contract area.
1989
Construction started with a total investment of US$ 570 million.
1990
Mining activities started in June 1990.
1991
Commissioning was conducted for main projects, which include crusher, coal preparation plant, overland conveyor, stacker, reclaimer and shiploader. In the same year, KPC commenced coal shipment of more than 2.1 million tons of coal.
1992
Surpassed KPC’s initially designed production capacity of 7 million tons of coal per year. That year KPC shipped more than 7.3 million tons of coal.
2000 – 2018
PT. Bumi Resources Tbk acquired KPC in 2003. In the same year, KPC continued to grow with production capacity of 16.4 million tons of coal, and further reached 56.97 million tons in 2017.
In 2017, KPC also started to operate a 3×18 MW steam power plant (PLTU) where 1x18MW supports the electrification of the communities in East Kutai.