Export of mineral concentrates stuck at port

The export of minerals produced by giants PT Freeport Indonesia, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara and other miners have been held up at the port as the government has yet to complete the necessary regulations following the implementation of the January 12 export ban policy, Kontan daily said in its headline report Tuesday.

The government introduced the export ban policy on January 12 of this year, but still allowed the export of six mineral concentrates including copper which meet the minimum purity level set by the government until 2017, but which are subject to export tax. Copper concentrates produced by Freeport and Newmont have met the minimum purity level.

The paper said that the customs office at the port has held up the shipment of the minerals until the exporters pay the required export tax.

Kontan said that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has yet to formulate the so-called reference price for minerals, which will be used by the Ministry of Trade to determine the export reference price for the products, which in turn will be used by the Ministry of Finance as the basis to collect the export tax.

Elsewhere, the paper said that the export of nickel in matte produced by PT Vale Indonesia had also been held up by the customs office since the past week. (*)