Indonesia awards mineral export permits to 55 companies

Metal Recycling News  |  2012-08-03 08:42:27   |   By

Mineral export permits to 55 companies has been awarded by Indonesia since it introduced curbs on shipments this year.

INDONESIA(Scrap Monster): Mineral export permits to 55 companies has been awarded by Indonesia since it introduced curbs on shipments this year.

New rules on mining exports, including a 20 percent export tax has been imposed by Indonesia in may, who is a major exporter of metal ores.Miners must now be certified 'clear and clean' and provide plans to process ores they dig up to obtain export permits under the new rules , ahead of a 2014 ban on unprocessed ore exports.

Of the 55 companies that have gained permits, 32 are nickel ore miners, 6 are iron ore miners, 2 are copper ore miners and 10 are bauxite miners. The number of approved firms stood at 22 in the early july, as the slow approval rate saw ore exports slump up to 90 percent.

Export permits has been received by Newmont Mining Corp, PT Aneka Tambang, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, PT Sebuku Iron Lateritic Ores and PT Sambas Mineral Mining.

Indonesia's push to develop domestic mineral processing industries aims to derive more revenue from a sector that already contributes around 12 percent of GDP.The disruption to Indonesian exports, however, is estimated to be costing the mining industry up to $164 million a month in lost sales of nickel and bauxite, and has led to mass layoffs across the country.