Mineral Downstream Policy Needs To Be Continued, Here Are The Counts

JAKARTA - The mineral downstream policy pursued by President Joko Widodo needs to be continued. It is even improved in the future.

According to the Executive Director of the Commaidi Notonegoro Reforminer Institute, mineral downstream has proven to increase the economic value of Indonesia's mining commodities, for example in nickel and its derivative added value of exports after downstreaming of US$35.6 billion, equivalent to Rp510 trillion in 2022, up more than 6.6 times from 2013 which was only US$5.4 billion.

"This good mineral downstream policy needs to be continued and even improved in the future," said Komaidi quoting Antara.

He appreciated President Jokowi for prohibiting the export of raw nickel that dared to face the European Union's lawsuit through WTO to support mineral downstreaming.

He said, there is still room that can be increased in downstreaming, for example, the absorption of semi-finished materials for the domestic manufacturing industry is entirely like an electric car battery.

Or the absorption of local workers is entirely so that the dual economic effects are increasingly felt for the people in the regions.

"President Jokowi's policy in the field of energy and mining is already good in terms of infrastructure approaches. For example, this mining smelter is actually a downstream policy that is still closely slice with infrastructure," he said.

A more philosophical approach, such as a strategy to suppress the oil and gas balance deficit, he continued, this energy transition strategy from coal to EBT can still be improved so as not to just "business as usual" in the future.

Meanwhile, the Special Staff of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources for the Acceleration of Mineral and Coal Governance, Irwandy Arif, said that downstreaming of minerals takes a long time and continuity of the program.

For this reason, he hopes that the policies that have been achieved by President Jokowi can be continued and sustainable.

His party under the leadership of President Jokowi has set a roadmap for mineral downstreaming even until 2045 towards Golden Indonesia.

It is stated that in the medium term (up to 2030) at least 10 downstream technologies will be applied to produce a number of downstream products.

Meanwhile, future plans are being prepared to accelerate the increase in added value of minerals in Indonesia, he added, including prioritizing the purchase of raw materials from within the country, coordinating with the Ministry of Industry in managing purification and processing facilities, and fiscal and non-fiscal policies to support the growth of the domestic downstream industry.