Ministries to jointly develop smelter roadmap

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) and the Ministry of Industry will jointly formulate the road map for the development of domestic smelter industry, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said stated over the weekend.

Sudirman said that the roadmap will be developed based on domestic industry demand for processed and refined minerals and supply of the mineral ores. ?The roadmap will be jointly developed by the MEMR and Ministry of Industry,? he said as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.

He added that the two ministries are still discussing the division of authority over the domestic smelter industry including independent smelters and smelters integrated with the mineral mines.

Sudirman, however, said that to help ensure certainty for investors, the two ministries have agreed to hand over licensing authority to the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

Elsewhere, Sudirman was quoted by Kontan as saying that under a planned revision of the 2009 Mining Law, supervision authority over domestic smelter industry has been proposed to be given to the Ministry of Industry, with the MEMR responsible only on the supply side of the required mineral concentrates. This is expected to end the current dual-authority over the domestic smelter industry. (*)