Export ban on rare earth minerals to be issued this month

The Bangka Belitung provincial administration is set to issue this month a bylaw on the export ban of rare earth minerals from the province, Kontan reported on Thursday.

This was said by Head of the Bangka Belitung Mining Office, Suranto. He said that a discussion on the planned new policy will be held next week, to be attended by officials and experts from various institutions including the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Nuclear Power Agency (Batan), and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

He said that the bylaw will be issued after the discussion forum. Rare earth minerals are byproducts of tin production.

As has been previously reported, the Bangka Belitung administration plans to ban the export or shipment of rare earth minerals out of the province, requiring tin miners to set up local refineries to process the rare earth minerals prior to shipment in a bid to help generate greater added value. (*)