Govt to investigate alleged misuse of mineral export permits
Wednesday, January 2 2013 - 03:05 AM WIB
The ministry?s Director General of Mineral and Coal Thamrin Sihite said in Jakarta last week that his office had found that some companies which were not involved in mining activities, had obtained the export permits.
He said that these companies probably bought the permits from other parties. ?That is why we will employ special team to investigate the alleged misuse of the export permits,? he said, adding that the government would further tighten the issuance of the export permit to ensure that they would not fall to wrong hands.
The government required mining companies to obtain export permit early last year to prevent over exploitation of mining resources ahead of the government?s plan to ban export of unprocessed minerals in 2014.
In order to be able to obtain the export permit, a company must receive a clear and clean status from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry which states that they are not involved in illegal mining operations, conduct mining operations according to the government?s standards, and pay royalties. The mining companies also have to show their commitment to develop smelting facilities in order to be able to get the permit.
Thamrin said that the export permits were also important to provide more accurate data on the country?s mineral exports so that the government would have valid data in determining the amount of royalties which have to be paid by miners.
With the expected increase in prices, the government expected to receive royalties of about Rp 16.5 trillion from the mining sector this year.(*)