Luhut said there should no longer be any room for such exports, and that the government would stick to fully implementing the 2009 Mining Law as the deadline nears for the total ban on any raw and partly processed mineral products after Jan. 11.

"We have to abide by the mining law," Luhut told The Jakarta Post. "I will meet the President on Friday to discuss the issue."

The comment came as Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said on Wednesday a draft government regulation (PP), which would offer further relief on the exports of certain commodities, had been submitted to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for immediate approval.

Jonan said he had been closely coordinating with the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister for the passing of the draft, and not with the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs.

“There is no need for another meeting [to discuss the draft]. It just needs the President's signature,” Jonan said.

The 2009 Mining Law initially included a mineral ore export and concentrate export ban in order to encourage development in the downstream sectors. The law stipulates that mineral ore miners must have completed their smelters by 2014, when the export ban should have been fully put in place. The smelters were expected to bring in added value to the end products, as opposed to exporting ore in its raw form.

However, because none of the proposed smelters had been completed, the deadline was extended to 2017 by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he issued PP No. 1/2014 as an amendment to PP No. 23/2010 on the management of mineral and coal businesses.

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