Prabowo Reveals 6 Illegal Mining Companies Lose Rp300 Trillion To The State

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto revealed that state losses from illegal mining activities carried out by six companies in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province reached IDR 300 trillion.

"We can imagine, the state losses of these six companies alone, the state losses are a total of Rp. 300 trillion," he said in an intercept interview on the sidelines of the agenda of handing over goods looted by the state from illegal mining cases to PT Timah Tbk in Pangkal Pinang, Monday, October 6.

The Head of State revealed that six tin smelters operating without a permit in the PT Timah concession area had been confiscated by law enforcement officials.

From the confiscation, it was found that piles of tin metals and rare or monasit earth metal materials had very high economic value.

"The value of the six smelters and confiscated goods is close to IDR 6 trillion-IDR 7 trillion," he said.

"This nominal does not include rare lands whose value has not been decomposed much greater, which is estimated to reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per ton," the President added.

"The monasit of one ton can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, 200 thousand dollars. The total Monasite was found tens of thousands of tons, close to 40 thousand tons," he said.

Based on preliminary calculations, the President said, the potential loss to the state from illegal mining activities is estimated at IDR 300 trillion.

On that occasion, President Prabowo emphasized the government's commitment to eradicating illegal mining and smuggling of natural resources that are detrimental to the state.

The President emphasized that similar practices should no longer be allowed to occur because they involve the nation's economic sovereignty.

The province of the Bangka Belitung Islands is known to store 91 percent of the national lead reserves (2.16 million tons of tin ore in 496 locations) and about 95 percent of Indonesia's rare earth metal potential (LTJ) as neodymium, cerium, lanthanum.

Tin and LTJ are the "new gold" of the modern world as vital ingredients for electronics, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and defense.

Six illegal tin smelters were confiscated by the state and will be managed by PT Timah with the community.