News
Controversial coal tested by lab with expired licence
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
South African coal sold to Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd (LCC) by problematic coal supplier Trident Chemphar was repeatedly tested in Indonesia by a laboratory whose accreditation to inspect coal expired on December 29 last year, Sri Lanka’s National Audit Office (NAO) said in a special report this week.
As of March 31 this year, the NAO had not received evidence that the licence granted by Indonesia’s National Accreditation Committee (KAN) to PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda had been renewed. During the audit, LCC accepted 12 shipments based on “unreliable” test reports produced by a laboratory that did not have the requisite accreditation, the NAO said.
Lakvijaya coal power plant
Under the procurement agreement, Trident—which won the 1.5mn MT tender for the 2025-2026 coal season—as supplier, was responsible for nominating the “load port testing laboratory”. LCC, the buyer, names the discharge port laboratory, which tests samples at Norochcholai.
The load port quality analysis certificate is vital because it (and the weight certificate) is the basis on which LCC settles 80 percent of the price of each shipment. It is also crucial because those who defend the 2025-26 coal procurement rejected reports from the Lakvijaya power plant (LVP) saying its laboratory was “not accredited”.
Of the 900MW generated by LVP, 810MW is channelled to the national grid. Operational data from LVP consistently showed—and continues to show—that the plant underperforms on the South African coal supplied by Trident Chemphar by an average of 150MW a day. The deficit is made up of expensive diesel-powered electricity.
Annexures in the NAO’s special audit report show that Trident Chemphar, when requested by LCC to nominate load port labs in South Africa, provided three names: TCRC Group, Leon Overseas Group, and Mitra SK. Two of them were not licensed under the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS), a mandatory requirement. And Mitra SK only had accreditation for chemical analysis.
On December 12, 2025—around a month after the coal supply agreement with Trident was signed—LCC wrote to Trident Chemphar, observing that the SANAS accreditation granted to Mitra SK “covers only a limited number of the required ASTM [American Society for Testing and Materials] parameters specified in our procurement document”.
LCC requested Trident to nominate “another suitable inspection agency capable of covering the full range of coal testing parameters” as stipulated in the procurement document.
In response, Trident named PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda (Indonesia) and “subsequently provided the authentication issued by the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Indonesia”. This is why coal samples from Richards Bay Coal Terminal in South Africa were sent by Trident to Indonesia for testing.
But High Commission’s communication to the LCC Chairman (dated 12 December, 2025, and attached to the special report) also states that “PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda has been registered in the National Accreditation Committee (KAN) of Indonesia, with its accreditation valid until 29 December 2025”.
This was a day before Trident’s first shipment—which subsequently failed testing by LCC’s appointed discharge port laboratory, Cotecna—arrived at Norochcholai.
On December 23, 2025, LCC again wrote to Trident: “Despite repeated requests made by LCC for the nomination of internationally recognized and fully compliant laboratories, including SGS or Bureau Veritas (BV), which are also acceptable to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), you have proceeded to nominate PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda, Indonesia, subsidiary of Mitra SK Group citing extended testing capabilities within the same group.”
“This nomination was referred to the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Indonesia, and as per their communication dated 12th December 2025, PT Mitra SK was attested with a validity period up to 29th December 2025,” the LCC General Manager states. “As of date, no evidence of renewed attestation has been furnished by you. Your failure to provide valid and current authentication constitutes a material non-compliance.”
But LCC accepts the nomination of PT Mitra SK Indonesia for load port testing, “strictly on the basis that the final and binding analysis shall be conducted at the discharge port by Cotecna India”.
LCC instructs Trident to immediately submit valid and renewed attestation documents for PT Mitra SK Indonesia. The annexures do not contain evidence an accreditation renewal, and the NAO says it did not receive any.
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