Official: Only 40 smelters to be completed until 2019

By Thomas Sembiring

Out of the government?s initial target to develop a total of 72 mineral smelters by 2019, only 40 are expected to be completed, according to Mohamad Hidayat, Director for Mineral Development and Supervision at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Hidayat said last week that the lingering downturn in commodity prices and various obstacles have hampered the development of domestic smelters. ?Our prognosis, by taking into account various obstacles, only 40 smelters are likely to be completed until 2019,? he said.

He added that last year, only 29 were completed out of the targeted 35.

The government, as mandated under the 2009 Mining Law, has banned the export of mineral ores since early 2014, pushing miners to develop domestic smelters in a bid to generate greater value added from the country?s mineral commodities. However, due to various obstacles such as lack of power supply in remote areas where the minerals are located, licensing issues, lack of funds, and the lingering commodity downturn, progress has been quite disappointing except for nickel smelters.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak