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View all search resultsIndonesia’s rare earth push faces low-content, costly extraction hurdles
In July, more than 100 shipments were delayed at Indonesian ports due to a mandatory testing program screening mineral shipment for rare earth content, despite the lack of clear government guidelines on acceptable levels.
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Indonesian Military (TNI) chief of general staff Lt. Gen. Richard Taruli H. Tampubolon (second right) holds a sack of mineral black sand while the Republic of Indonesia Fleet Command (Koarmada RI) Vice Adm. Denih Hendrata (second left) looks on at the Indonesian Navy’s Naval Command (Kodaeral) IV/Batam headquarters’ pier in Batam, Riau Islands, on May 26, 2026. The Indonesian Navy intercepted on May 17, 2026, a tugboat and a barge carrying 25 containers of some 390 tonnes of raw minerals containing illegal rare earth metals and radioactive elements in Riau Islands waters. (Courtesy of Kodaeral IV/Batam/-)
T
he government is stepping up efforts to build a domestic rare earth industry and keep the processing of the valuable minerals onshore, despite recent export delays caused by tighter scrutiny of rare earth content in commodities such as nickel cathode and nickel pig iron (NPI).
Experts, however, cautioned that low concentrations of rare earth elements and the technical challenges of extracting them could undermine the economic viability of developing the industry.
In July, more than 100 shipments were delayed at Indonesian ports due to a mandatory testing program screening mineral shipment for rare earth content, despite the lack of clear government guidelines on acceptable levels.
Chief of Staff Dudung Abdurachman clarified on Aug. 3 that the export of rare earth elements as primary products is indeed prohibited. However, this does not automatically apply to rare earth elements found as “accompanying elements or byproducts” in primary and derivative mining products.
The bottlenecks prompted the government to begin mapping associated mineral content across various downstream products, a step intended to safeguard investment continuity while preparing a more targeted regulatory framework for rare earths.
Read also: Indonesia lifts export freeze on rare earth byproducts
The Indonesian Mining Experts Association (Perhapi) chairman Sudirman Widhy Hartono said that government teams have visited several nickel mining and smelting companies to collect samples from both NPI products and tailings to determine residual rare earth content.
