Thin Reserves, Government Urged To Close Export Faucets Of NPI And Feronicel

Nickel illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission VII DPR RI Mulyanto urged the government to stop the export of Nickel's Pig Iron (NPI) and ferronickel commodities. This follows data from the Indonesian Mining Expert Association (Perhapi) which states that the lifespan of the nickel reserve type of saprolit only lasts 7 years.

According to Mulyanto, the current downstream model makes the state lose money, while the existing natural resources are threatened with being sold out and the environment damaged.

"Nickel as a strategic and critical SDA should be ememan-eman. The cooking we export is in the form of NPI and Fero Nickel, whose nickel content is only around 4-10 percent. This is a semi-finished product with a low added value," said Mulyanto in his statement, Tuesday, August 15.

Not to mention according to Mulyanto, exports of this product are without being subject to export duties and guaranteed at low input nickel ore prices or almost half of the international price.

"Not to mention being given a tax holiday ph agency, the ease of employing foreign workers and various other facilities," said Mulyanto.

He said the Government must immediately establish a policy to prohibit the export of NPI and Fero Nickel or exports, only for nickel products with nickel content greater than 80 percent. He agreed to the proposal to carry out a moratorium on the construction of a new class one smelter.

"I agree that the construction of the first class smelter that produces NPI and Fero Nickel is stopped so that we can share our nickel reserves.

Furthermore, he asked the Government to encourage the construction of class II smelters, which produce class II downstream products, class III, such as stainless steel, nickel safe and mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), batteries that have high added value and have a higher double effect on the national economy.

Mulyanto asked that the focus of developing natural resources in the future is the industrialization of nickel, not just downstream nickel.

"This program is to create a prosperous Indonesian society through added value of the national natural resources processing in accordance with the constitutional mandate," concluded Mulyanto.