Ririn Radiawati Kusuma – The details of a controversial new regulation that would ban the export of raw commodities from 2014 are set to be released later this year.
"Our target is to issue a ministerial regulation by the end of this year," said Thamrin Sihite, director general of minerals and coal at the Energy Ministry.
"We are holding discussions with businesses and business associations this month. After that, we will hold a large-scale group discussion before posting the ministerial regulation," Thamrin said.
The government is drafting a regulation that would require all miners to process raw commodities, ranging from precious metals such as gold to base metals such as tin, before being shipped overseas.
The regulation is designed to boost the downstream mineral processing industry, preventing the nation from merely being a quarry for other economies by forcing companies to build smelters and processing facilities.
Some of the world's biggest miners operate in Indonesia. Among them are Freeport McMoRan in Papua and BHP Billiton in Kalimantan.
The regulation would set minimum standards for the quality of coal exported, Thamrin said. The regulation would require coal to be of an energy density of at least 5,700 kilocalories per kilogram.
"The quality of coal below that ceiling should be discussed further," Thamrin said. The official said several miners, including Aneka Tambang, agreed with the regulation.
However, Supriatna Suhala, executive director of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI), said several coal miners opposed the plan. Those miners say building a smelter or other facilities would require costly investments in technology.
Arutmin Indonesia, a subsidiary of coal miner Bumi Resources, and Japanese steel manufacturer Kobe Steel are jointly constructing a smelter that will transform brown coal into higher-quality coal.
Dileep Srivastava, a director at Bumi Resources, said in July that the company would build a smelter for $150 million.
The smelter is expected to process one million tons of low-grade coal – which has a high moisture content – into higher-grade coal each year.
Aneka Tambang has teamed up with French mining group Eramet and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation to construct a $4.6 billion smelter servicing the Weda Bay Nickel project in Maluku.