TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
RI reconsiders plan for RKEF smelter moratorium
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is “reevaluating” its plan to enforce a moratorium on the construction of rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) nickel smelters.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Under evaluation: Nickel smelters spew emissions into the skies above the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Bahodopi district, Morowali regency, Central Sulawesi, on Jan. 26. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
T
he Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is reconsidering its plan to enforce a moratorium on the construction of rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) nickel smelters.
Former energy and mineral resources minister Arifin Tasrif previously said that the energy ministry and the industry ministry were planning a temporary halt on permits for RKEF smelter projects in response to a dwindling supply of saprolite.
Saprolite, a high-grade nickel ore, is the preferred nickel feedstock for the production of ferronickel, which is used in steelmaking.
Tri Winarno, the energy ministry’s coal and mineral mining director general, said the ministry was now reconsidering the plan.
“It is in a reevaluation process,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday when asked whether the government would follow through with its intention to curb RKEF smelter construction in the country.
Read also: Indonesia lacks HPAL smelters to make battery materials
According to data from the Indonesian Nickel Miners Association (APNI), there are a total of 49 operating RKEF smelters, which together process some 240 million tonnes of saprolite annually.
