Jakarta – The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has warned mining companies over the sluggish progress on the construction of smelters, which is a requirement under the stipulations of their export permits.
The ministry's mineral and coal Director General Bambang Gatot Ariyono said on Thursday as reported by kontan.co.id that the ministry would revoke the export recommendations for companies whose construction progress had not reached 90 percent within six months of independent verification of export recommendations.
The requirement to construct smelters is stipulated in Ministerial Decree No. 6/2017 on the procedure for the issuance of export recommendations for processed minerals issued in April 2017.
Based on recent audit's by the ministry, the smelter's construction progress of three out of 16 nickel mining companies that obtained export recommendations from the ministry had reached less than 1 percent progress.
For example, the progress of PT Ceria Nugraha Indotama smelter's construction reached only 0.53 percent in March from 0.03 percent in December. Yet, the company had exported 1.5 million tons out of its 2.3 million ton quota.
PT Fajar Bakti Lintas Nusantara, which had obtained the export recommendations of 4 million tons, had not started construction, while PT Genba Multi Mineral, which obtained the export recommendation of 1.89 million tons in January, had not shown any progress in smelter construction.
Meanwhile, from the seven bauxite mining companies, the smelter's construction progress of three companies was less than 1 percent. (bbn)