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PrintThe export of half-processed minerals face prolonged disruption as exporters have yet to apply for permits with the authorities to ensure their products can continue to be sold overseas.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general for mineral and coal, R. Sukhyar, said his office had yet to receive any applications for export resumption of half-processed minerals.
“It’s likely that export duties have restrained them from applying. Miners are still opposing the duties. If they agree to them, they will apply for the permits,” Sukhyar said on Monday.
Miners are still calculating whether it is economically feasible to export half-processed products given hefty new duties.
Indonesia started to ban exports of unprocessed and several half-processed mineral ores on Jan. 12, a move aimed at boosting the downstream industry.
However, despite the ban, mining firms are still allowed to continue exporting their half-processed products, such as concentrates, until 2017.
Under the new regulations, the producers are required to obtain a recommendation from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, and apply as a registered exporter at the Trade Ministry before Feb. 3.
The government has imposed export duties to motivate them to build downstream processing facilities in the country.
The export duties are set at 25 percent and will be progressively raised to 60 percent by mid-2016.
Mining companies have argued that the duties are too high. Giants such as PT Freeport Indonesia and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara have claimed that the duties violated their contracts of work.
The concentrate sellers must obtain a recommendation from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry stating that their products have passed the minimum mineral content requirement prior to export.
Sukhyar said the recommendation could be obtained by companies with a commitment to processing their ore domestically in the near future, and that they should have a clear milestone for building facilities.
The recommendation from the ministry will be passed to the Trade Ministry, which will then issue an export permit.
Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said his office had not received any requests for recommendations, both for half-processed and refined minerals.
“We are very careful in the issuance process in order to create a reliable system,” he said.
Regulation on such permits has apparently deterred producers of fully processed minerals as the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is required to undergo a kind of verification to ensure that the exported minerals are fully processed.
Among the impacted producers include diversified miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) and nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia.
Antam corporate secretary Tri Hartono said the company has yet to obtain the so-called “recommendation” and “registration” letter.
“The process is still ongoing at the Energy and Mineral Resources, which apparently still has no guidelines for the documents. We hope it can be settled next month,” Tri said.
He added that on Monday Antam exported a shipment of ferronickel, with the next shipment scheduled for next month.
Therefore, he said, the firm’s obligation was not disrupted by the delay in the permit issues.
Antam earlier reported that it recorded a record high volume of nickel ore export last year. The company said it sold 9.71 million wet metric tons of nickel ore in 2013, a 21 percent increase compared to a year earlier.
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