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RI aims for extra shipments of semifinished mineral products

The government is expecting additional exports of semifinished mineral products this year, particularly with the upcoming completion of several processing facilities, according to an official

Raras Cahyafitri (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, March 20, 2015

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RI aims for extra shipments of semifinished mineral products

The government is expecting additional exports of semifinished mineral products this year, particularly with the upcoming completion of several processing facilities, according to an official.

The extra exports will mostly comprise nickel products, such as nickel pig iron (NPI) and ferronickel, from six companies whose smelter developments are scheduled to be completed this year.

The smelters will be operated by PT Sambas Mineral Mining, PT Macika Mineral Industri, PT Karyatama Konawe Utara, PT Bintang Delapan, PT Fajar Bhakti Lintas Nusantara and PT Gebe Sentra Nickel.

'€œAfter [the completion of] those six smelters this year, we will see five other nickel smelters in operation next year. If all goes as planned, by 2018 we will see those local smelters absorb and refine as much as half of all raw material produced in 2013,'€ said R. Sukhyar, director general for mineral and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resource Ministry.

Following the implementation of the 2009 Mining Law, which required raw minerals to be processed at home, the government started banning mineral ore exports in early 2014.

Consequently, as much as around 50 million tons of nickel ore cannot be shipped overseas, according to figures from the mineral and coal directorate general.

Indonesia, a major player in the nickel business with its high reserves, produced 62 million tons of nickel ore in 2013, most of which was sold overseas.

In 2014, following the mineral ore ban, national production stood at only around 10 million tons, which was supplied to domestic refining facilities, mostly by PT Aneka Tambang and PT Vale Indonesia.

This year, nickel ore production is estimated to stand at 14.15 million tons to support the refining facilities set to be in operation.

Apart from the six companies with new smelters, state-owned PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) is also prepared to see higher output from its chemical grade alumina (CGA), whose plant was completed last year.

'€œFollowing the commencement of the commercial operations of the Tayan CGA plant, Antam is targeting production of 157,000 tons of alumina with a sale volume of 149,000 tons of alumina in 2015,'€ the company'€™s president director, Tato Miraza, said earlier.

The mineral and coal directorate general has also issued recommendations approving other mining companies'€™ requests to continue selling semifinished mineral products, such as concentrates, upon their commitment to developing refining facilities to process mineral after 2017, the deadline for the export of semifinished products.

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