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Govt to relax export ban on mining sector
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Dig deeper – A heavy vehicle passes an open pit mining site at gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia’s open pit facility in Grasberg, Tembagapura, Mimika, Papua. (JP/Nethy Dharma Somba)
T
he government is set to issue a government regulation (PP) on mining to expedite the resolution of several issues in the sector, given that the 2009 Mining Law draft revision is still being deliberated at the House of Representatives, a top official has said.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who is currently serving as interim energy and mineral resources minister, told reporters that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had requested the speeding up of deliberation of the 2009 Mining Law draft revision. It is expected that the PP will relax the current ore export ban for a limited amount of time.
"We are preparing the PP as a legal umbrella until the revised 2009 Mining Law is completed so there will be no hiatus [in the mining sector]," Luhut said after a meeting with Jokowi at the State Palace on Monday.
He further said the government had established a team, led by prominent law expert Hikmahanto Juwana, to prepare the PP. "The draft revision was proposed by the House while the PP is from us," he went on.
The government’s ban on the export of unprocessed mineral ores was imposed in 2015. It was aimed at pushing the development of smelters to strengthen the mining downstream sector in the country.
However, the implementation of the ban has been pushed back to Jan. 11, 2017, due to complaints from the mining industry, which says the implementation of the ban is too hasty. The development of smelters also remains sluggish until now even with the clock ticking toward the full implementation of the ban next year. (ebf)
