Indonesia's Supreme Court has scrapped a government ban on the export of unprocessed minerals, the country's chamber of commerce said on Monday, and urged the government to draft new mineral export rules.

"With the Supreme Court decision all the chapters [of the ban] have to be dropped as soon as possible, and mineral exports will be regulated by the Trade Ministry," Natsir Mansyur, a senior official of the chamber of commerce, told Reuters.

He was referring to portions of the regulation that authorize the central government to oversee mineral processing and ban mineral exports. The Supreme Court decision was issued in September, according to local news portals, but was only made public on Monday.

"The Energy and Mineral Resource ministry has no right any more to regulate exports, including determining the mineral export quota," Mansyur added.

The government mining regulations this year sent shockwaves through the industry, which contributes 12 percent to Indonesia's economic output, and hit exports.

Syahrir A.B., an executive director at the Indonesian Mining Association, said in October that Coordinating Minister for Economics Hatta Rajasa agreed in late July to review the regulation that banned the export of numerous minerals and ores unless mining companies smelted them in Indonesia or meet other strict conditions. (Reuters, JG)