Ministry approves partial 2026 coal, nickel RKAB quotas

By Calvin Purba

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has approved work plans and budgets (RKAB) for a number of coal and nickel miners, covering combined production quotas of about 390–400 million tonnes of coal and around 100 million tonnes of nickel ore, an official said on Tuesday.

 “390–400 (coal), around that. Nickel is about 100,” Director General of Mineral and Coal Tri Winarno said.

He said the government aims to complete approvals for all RKAB submissions by the end of March, citing strong coordination between regulators and companies.

 “The target remains the end of March. Both companies and the government are actively involved. If either side is not active, it won’t be possible,” he said.

Read also : Government approves 300 million tons in coal production work plans

Indonesia plans to reduce its overall coal production quota to around 600 million tonnes in 2026 from about 790 million tonnes in 2025, and cut its nickel ore quota to roughly 260–270 million tonnes from about 379 million tonnes, as part of efforts to support global prices.

However, the nickel quota could be revised in the second half of the year depending on market conditions, particularly demand from domestic smelters.

 “We will have to see how much the need is. The percentage of the revision will depend on that,” Tri said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak