Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Issues Critical Mineral Classification, Is There A Plan To Ban Exports?

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

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) issued an ESDM Ministerial Decree (Kepmen) regarding the type of commodity classified as critical mineral.

The classification is contained in the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Decree Number 296.K/MB.01/MEM.B/2023 concerning the Determination of Commodity Types classified as Critical Mineral Classification.

Some types of minerals included in this list include rare earth metals (LTJ), nickel and Zikron.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif said this Ministerial Decree was issued because registered minerals were needed for energy transition.

"Yes, later the minerals whose existence is very much needed to be able to support, especially this transition. Then the numbers are also limited," said Arifin, who was met at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Monday, October 2.

Arifin added, if the existence of this mineral is really needed by Indonesia for long-term needs.

Regarding the LTJ export ban, Arifin did not provide a definite answer but gave an example of other countries such as China which have stopped LTJ exports for domestic use.

"So far, in many developed countries, very rarely used minerals are very much used. We don't know what's in it," continued Arifin.

For this reason, he continued, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will explore further to analyze the content and uses of critical minerals.

Previously, Arifin assessed the need for good management of Indonesia's natural resources.

One of them is through increasing exploration of Minerba's spare resources, including the potential for rare earth metals and critical minerals.

"We need to highlight this critical military, because this critical mineral includes nickel, where we have the largest reserves in the world. Then we also have copper, without copper we cannot electrify our country. We also have bauxite that can produce aluminum that can support the needs of the electricity industry., said Arifin.