JAKARTA - Aryo P. S. Djojohadikusumo, President Director of PT Arsari Tambang, revealed the company’s plan to build a tin and rare earth elements (REE) research center in Bangka as part of a strategy to promote downstream processing and strengthen Indonesia’s mineral technology.
According to him, the existence of a research center is an urgent necessity to strengthen the competitiveness of the national tin industry amid increasing global technological demands.
“Imagine, Indonesia’s tin industry has been around for 150 years, and we don’t have a tin research center,” said Aryo during his presentation as a speaker at the Met Connex 2026 mining and metallurgy industry forum at the Jakarta InternatiConvention Center (JCC) on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.
He stated that Arsari Tambang aims for this research center to serve as a base for developing tin technology and processing rare earth metals, which have so far been limited domestically.
According to Aryo, rare earth elements are a byproduct of tin that holds high strategic value for the future of the global industry, particularly in supporting the energy transition and high-tech sectors.
Some of the elements he mentioned include neodymium (NdPr) and dysprosium, which are needed in various technological devices and the energy industry.
“Hopefully, we can benefit from this. One of the things we are doing is investing in the construction of a tin and rare earth metals research center in Bangka,” he said.
Aryo believes Indonesia needs to begin mastering downstream tin-based technologies, including the development of solder for the semiconductor industry, which requires high-standard metal alloy formulations.
According to him, the development of such technologies cannot rely solely on foreign markets but must be supported by domestic research capacity and the strengthening of the national ecosystem so that innovation, industrial collaboration, and economic value-added remain within Indonesia.
“We need to master it, and this must be owned by Indonesia, researched in Indonesia, and manufactured in Indonesia,” he said.
Aryo also opened the door to collaboration with various parties, including academics, private companies, and state-owned enterprises in the tin sector, to accelerate the development of this research center. He noted that cooperation with companies that have long been active in the tin industry could be a crucial step in building a national mineral research ecosystem.
This research center is part of Arsari Tambang’s broader agenda to strengthen mineral downstream processing. Previously, Arsari Tambang established a solder factory in Batam, PT Solder Tin Andalan Indonesia, as an effort to expand the tin industry’s value chain and reduce reliance on raw material exports.
For Arsari Tambang, the future of mining no longer relies solely on resource extraction, but also on the ability to create added value through industrialization, technological innovation, and the sustainability of the national mineral industry.
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