Lies About Bauxite Smelter Construction, Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Calls Middle Looking For Serious Investors

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif revealed that his party is looking for investors who are serious about working on the Bauxite smelter industry.

Arifin admitted that he was embarrassed by entrepreneurs who lied about the progress of the construction of the bauxite smelter which was currently being reviewed, it turned out that it was still in the form of a field with an hansip post.

"So far, we've been winding it, right? They say it's already a percentage, it turns out that the football field is the same as the hansip post," said Arifin to the media crew quoted on Thursday, June 20.

Nevertheless, continued Arifin, there are still several smelter developments that are still well progress, one of which is a bauxite smelter belonging to PT Bintan Alumina Indonesia.

Arifin said he would conduct a review of the Semlter Bintan Alumina in the near future to ensure the progress of the construction of this purification industry.

"There is the Bintan Alumina, so we want to see this, we want to review it later in the 2nd week of July we want to see," continued Arifin.

Just so you know, the Government officially prohibits the export of raw mineral bauxite on Saturday, June 10, 2023.

The policy to prohibit the export of bauxite is in accordance with Law Number 3 of 2020 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining (UU Minerba).

Meanwhile, Indonesia is known to target the construction of 16 integrated mineral refining facilities by 2024.

The total investment of the 16 smelters is worth 11.66 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 183 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp. 15,716,-).

Acting Director General of Mineral and Coal (Minerba) Bambang Suswantono in a Hearing Meeting with Commission VII of the DPR RI explained that 7 units of bauxite commodities are planned. For this commodity, said Bambang, the progress is quite slow with the range of 30 to 90 percent.

"The total investment in bauxite smelters is US$ 5,583.5 million," said Bambang in a Hearing Meeting with Commission VII DPR RI, Tuesday, March 19.