Jakarta: There could be a relaxation of Jakarta’s 14-month long bauxite ban. The government is looking to allow miners to raise cash to finance aluminium smelters.
The ban had been brought in place in January last year to try and develop Indonesia’s aluminium manufacturing supply chain. All but processed metal shipments were banned from export in an effort to force miners to build smelters on Indonesian soil. However, 14 months on miners have complained that the ban has slashed funds so much that they are unable to complete construction of the smelters.
Any exports that do happen, an advisory team to the government said Monday will require miners to pay export taxes and provide surety bonds to ensure that all export proceeds get spent on the construction of the smelters.
Indonesia produced 58m tons of bauxite in 2013 and just 2.8m tons following the introduction of the ban.
Indonesia only has one bauxite processing smelter in operation. Another four are in development.
