Govt asked to revise zirconium category

The association of Indonesian zirconium miners (APZI) has called on the government to revise the zirconium classification which the association said has hampered their export activities, Bisnis Indonesia reported Wednesday.

In a letter sent to the director general of coal and mineral at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on Dec.3, the association asked for the use of zirconium silicate as the only category in the zirconium classification.

APZI chairman Sihol Manullang said that the government?s regulation 7/2012 only regulated zirconium with content of 99 percent, whose market is only five percent, while more than 80 percent of zirconium market is those of zirconium silicate.

?We therefore appeal the government to regulate only zirconium silicate which has market of more than 80 percent,? he said, adding that the association?s members would be ready to build smelting facilities for the zirconium silicate, because with its big market, it will be feasible to build a smelter.

?If we build a smelter for a commodity with a market of only five percent, it will not be feasible to build a smelter,? he said. (*)