Government finalizes revision of mineral concentrates export ban policy

A government team has completed the revision of Government Regulation No 1/2014, which among others stipulates that export of mineral concentrates can no longer be made starting January 12, 2017.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Teguh Pamudji was quoted by Kontan as saying Saturday that the revised regulation has been sent to Interim Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Luhut Panjaitan for approval.

He said that the revision of the GR No 1/2014 was made in anticipation of the current revision of the 2009 Mining Law, made at the initiative of the House of Representatives, which among others will relax the current mineral export ban policy, could not be completed before January 12 of next year.

Teguh said that the government is seeking to relax the mineral concentrates export ban policy as large miners such as PT Freeport Indonesia, and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara will not be able to complete the required domestic smelters by January 12 of next year, which means that if the GR No 1/2014 is not revised, or the revision of the mining law is not yet completed, they could no longer export the mineral concentrates.

He, however, said that under the revised regulation, only miners which hold the special IUPK mining business permits can make export. This means that miners holding the contracts of work (or KK) must switch them into IUPK permit.

The government started ban on the export of mineral ores in early 2014, requiring miners to build domestic smelters to process the ores, as part of efforts for the country to gain greater value from mining commodities as mandated by the 2009 Mining Law. The government, however, allowed the export mineral concentrates such as copper concentrates produced by PT Freeport and Newmont until January 12, 2017, by which time they?re expected to have completed the required domestic smelters. (*)