Coal was discovered there by Dutch engineer
Willem Hendrik de Greve in 1868. Mining started at the open-pit mine in 1892 after the construction of a railway. In the pre-independence period, coal production peaked in 1930, at more than 620,000 tonnes a year. Prisoners/Kettingganger (Dutch for people in chains) from Java and Sumatra who were transported to the mining site with their legs, hands, and necks chained up, were the main miners. Coal production fulfilled 90 percent of the Dutch East Indies’ energy needs. In 1942–1945, the mine was controlled by Japan, and the mine declined. From 1945–1958, the mine was managed by the directorate of mining and in 1958–1968, by the bureau of state mining companies. In 1968, it became the Ombilin production unit of the state coal mining company. Production peaked in 1976 at 1,201,846 tonnes per year. In recent times, CNTIC has invested $100 million to the mine. By 2008, the mine had estimated reserves of about 90.3 million tonnes of
coking coal, of which 43 million tonnes were mineable. The mine is owned by PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) and operated by the China National Technology Import-Export Corporation (CNTIC). The mine produces about 500,000 tonnes of coal per year. As of 2019, PT Bukit Asam coal mine company had halted operations in Ombilin. ==Attraction==