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Bauxite miners ask for leeway amid export ban
A business group believes the rationale for allowing Freeport Indonesia and Amman Mineral to continue copper exports could also apply to bauxite miners.
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Excavators work at the Tayan bauxite mine in Sanggau, West Kalimantan, owned by state-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam). (Antam/Antam)
The government is adamant about its plan to ban bauxite exports on Saturday so as to boost domestic processing and refining.
"It is still on. The policy has been in place for a long time, and the President said that [the ban] should be [implemented] on June 10," Muhammad Wafid, interim director general of minerals and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said on Thursday.
He referred to the 2020 Mineral and Coal Mining Law, which allows miners to export "certain unrefined mineral products" only until June 9, 2023. The plan was reaffirmed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in a statement last December.
The decision has prompted criticism from domestic players, who say there is not enough domestic bauxite processing capacity to absorb all the ore produced in the country.
A. Rizqi Darsono, head of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Kadin) permanent committee on minerals and coal, explained that local refiners could only process 14 million tonnes of bauxite into alumina a year with the current refinery capacity of four smelters.
That is far below the national bauxite output, which amounted to more than 27 million tonnes last year.
"In general, Kadin has a position as a strategic partner of the government, so we support the regulation that has the objective of increasing investment in the country. However, on some occasions, we also try to provide input," Rizqi told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
