PT Smelting may suspend operation due to export ban

By Tri Subhki R

PT Smelting said the implementation of Law No 4/2009 on Minerals and Coal and its implementing regulations, which bans the exports of unrefined mining products, will cause negative impact on its operation.

President Director Makato Miki pointed out the implementation of the export ban on copper concentrate and anode slime next year will eventually force the firm to suspend the operation of the only copper smelter in Indonesia.

"If Indonesian government implements the export ban, PT Smelting will not be able to carry on its operation," he said on Thursday.

The export ban will affect the company's copper concentrate supply as PT Freeport Indonesia and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, as the suppliers, will stop their production.

Miki also suggested that if PT Smelting suspends its operation, the impacts will be felt by the manufacturing industries now serving as buyers of its by-products, including the cable, cement and fertilizer industries.

Under the Law No. 4/2009, mining companies are not allowed to export mineral ores starting from 2014, or five years from the issuance of the law. The government later issued Governmental Regulation (PP) No.7/2012 and Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No. 11/2012 to implement the export ban.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon