Willem Hendrik de Greve

On May 26, 1867, he was commissioned by the Dutch East Indies Governor Pieter Mijer to conduct another potential mining expedition in the interior of Minangkabau, which de Groot had studied earlier in 1858.

In this expedition, de Greve discovered coal deposits totaling 200 million tons on the hills alongside the Batang Ombilin River.

[3] De Greve reported his finding to the Dutch East Indies government in Batavia (now Jakarta), and published the Het Ombilien-kolenveld in de Padangsche Bovenlanden en het Transportstelsel op Sumatras Weskust (The Ombilien coalfield in the Padang Highlands and the Transport System on Sumatra West-Coast) together with W.A.

The publication recommended a railway infrastructure that would transport the coal resource to a port at the eastern coast of Sumatra for the purpose of trade with neighboring countries e.g.

[5][4] De Greve was buried in what is now Durian Gadang, Sijunjung Regency, West Sumatra.

[6] De Greve's research in 1867 in the Padang Highlands had a major impact in the Dutch East Indies government and to the economic development in West Sumatra at the time.