Acting Director General Of Mineral And Coal Opens Voice About Alleged Illegal Nickel Ore Exports To China

Nickel (Photo: dock. intermediate)

JAKARTA - The Directorate General of Mineral and Coal (Ditjen Minerba) has opened its voice regarding the alleged export of 5 million tons of nickel ore to China.

Acting Director General (Dirjen) Minerba Muhammad Wafid revealed that currently his party is still checking with related parties.

"Yes, we verified everything because there should be no exports," he told the media quoted on Wednesday, July 5.

Wafid added that there is a possibility of a recording scheme between Indonesia and China. Therefore, he has also coordinated with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI).

"Maybe the different perceptions of customs and excise there are what the method uses, what do we use, we'll do that too," added Wafid.

Regarding the difference in the recording scheme, Wafid gave an example of Indonesia allowing exports of iron. In iron ore, there is generally a low amount of nickel below 2 percent.

"1 percent for us doesn't matter. It's not part of nickel. But there it counts nickel, like that. Not yet in the conclusion stage," explained Waid.

Previously, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detected allegations of exporting illegal nickel ore from January 2020 to June 2022. This mining product was sent from Indonesia to China.

"(Alleged illegal exports of nickel ore, ed) from January 2020 to June 2022. The source of the Chinese Customs website," said Head of the KPK Region V Coordination and Supervision Task Force Dian Patria to reporters, Friday, June 23.

Dian said there were five million tons of illegal nickel ore sent to China based on his studies. However, Dian said the data on the customs site did not include detailed information about the area of origin of exports.