Before the pandemic began, Low Tuck Kwong tried - and failed - to sell a stake in his Indonesian mining company. Unable to find the right buyer, he decided to double down, adding shares instead of paring them.

The bet paid off: PT Bayan Resources’ stock has more than doubled since, making Low one of the wealthiest people in the industry, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His stake, now at 61 per cent, is worth $US6.1 billion ($8 billion).

“It’s very simple: If I can’t sell part of my shares, I better buy more,” Low said in a rare interview from Jakarta in March, the month he added another 199 million shares.

Coal producers have been on a tear recently, an unexpected development for the industry most responsible for carbon emissions. At last year’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, more than 40 countries pledged to shift away from the fuel. Indonesia, its largest exporter, has boosted regulation to safeguard natural resources.

Yet burning coal is still common, generating about 35 per cent of the world’s electricity and twice as much in Indonesia. Post-pandemic economic activity has increased demand, as has the war in Ukraine. Nations including Japan have banned Russian fuel imports, further tightening supply and pushing prices even higher.

For Bayan Resources, where Low serves as president, it’s been a boon. Shares are trading near a record high. Revenue more than doubled to $US2.9 billion last year, and the company repaid all of its debt. Now the miner is building new infrastructure to boost its production capacity to as much as 60 million tonnes by 2026 from 37.6 million tonnes in 2021, according to chief financial officer Alastair McLeod.

“Coal will still be needed by most of the Asian countries by 2050.”

Shirley Zhang, Asia-Pacific coal market analyst

“There’s still a very balanced, if not undersupplied market,” McLeod said in the March interview. “Obviously we will still face a variety of challenges. But from the market price perspective, there’s a demand for coal. We would anticipate healthy margins in 2022.”

Shares of coal miners have surged across the board, boosting the fortunes of other Indonesian tycoons. PT Adaro Minerals Indonesia, controlled by billionaire Garibaldi Thohir’s PT Adaro Energy Indonesia, has shot up almost 2,800 per cent since its public debut in January. The 175 per cent jump in PT Harum Energy over the past year has sent the value of its founder’s stake to $US2 billion.