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.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsExisting investors demand exemptions from nickel smelter restrictions
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!
Chimneys spew emissions into the air on July 7, 2024, at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park in Lelilef, North Maluku. (AFP/Azzam Risqullah)
T
he government’s move to effectively restrict new smelter projects has drawn industry concern over the scope of the smelter moratorium, specifically whether it applies to companies that secured their business licenses before the new rules took effect.
Enacted in June through the Government Regulation (PP) No. 28/2025 on risk-based business licensing, the rules form a key part of Indonesia's broader strategy to accelerate a downstream push in the nickel sector by shifting the focus from just producing intermediate metals to manufacturing higher-value finished goods.
The moratorium is being enforced administratively through the Online Single Submission (OSS) licensing platform. As per Appendix 1F of the regulation, the system is configured to prevent new smelter projects focused on making intermediate nickel products, namely ferronickel, nickel pig iron (NPI), nickel matte and mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP).
Read also: RI reconsiders plan for RKEF smelter moratorium
To secure a license, companies must formally declare that their operations will not output these specific materials.
While intended to advance the domestic nickel industry, the moratorium has sparked industry debate over its potential to disrupt existing investments and create legal uncertainty.
Indonesian Mining Association (IMA) executive director Hendra Sinadia pointed to a disconnect between the regulation's future-facing design and the current on-the-ground reality, noting that several companies holding industrial business permits (IUI) had initiated the construction of nickel-processing and refining facilities, committing substantial funds, long before the new regulation came into force.
