Bauxite Entrepreneurs Propose Form Consortium To Overcome Stalled Smelter Construction

Bauxite (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Beauxite and Ore Entrepreneurs Association (APB3I) proposed the establishment of a consortium to establish a bauxite smelter. This is because the construction of the refining industry is still stagnant even though the government has been banning exports of bauxite commodities since June 2023.

Plh. Chairman of the APB3I Ronald Sulistyanto said that currently, domestic bauxite entrepreneurs have become 'locomotives' who often bring in investors by inviting relevant stakeholders but are not counted as weight values in the progress of smelter development.

"Or we just make a consortium. Of the 10 companies, there is no need for everyone to make a smelter. Too many. Where will alumina be sold?" he said in the Mining Zone quoted Monday, July 15.

He further said, since the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have been affected so that they are not in top condition to invest in bauxite smelters.

Moreover, he said, there was a strengthening of the US dollar which was a burden for bauxite entrepreneurs because the construction of each smelter component was calculated by US dollar units.

"What we mean is that the government must be right on target. Do you want to help this entrepreneur? Entrepreneurs need to be nurtured. It is not possible to destroy it. If it is only preserved without being given adequate infrastructure in order to circumvent orders from the law, why not?" he explained.

With the smelter construction consortion, according to Ronald, it can increase equity because it brings 3 to 4 companies together to 1 company.

"But there must be a referee. It is the government's referee to be able to collaborate together to bring in investors because we have equity," Ronald continued.

With the construction of the smelter s through a consortium, Ronald said it could ease the company's financial burden. Thus, there can be 5 smelters built with a capacity of 2 million tons per smelter each.

"It's a minimum of 5. If 5 averages 2 million, the average of 10 million alumina outputs. How much is it needed? Every 2 jt is only 3 times. This means that you can get 50 million. This means that to give these miners the opportunity to come back to life by selling is determined by HPM and followed by factories. If not, they must be punished," concluded Ronald.