Jakarta On August 12, Yunus Saefulhak., Director of the Mining Management Department of the General Administration of Coal and Minerals of the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Indonesia, said that the task force has been formally established. The members are composed of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Ministry of Industry, the Investment Coordination Department and Officials from the Ministry of Commerce. The task force will supervise that nickel ore transactions in Indonesia comply with the benchmark price set by the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mines, and companies that violate the benchmark price will be punished.
The director added that according to the statistics of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the output of nickel ore in the first half of 2021 was 15.85 million wet tons, of which 83.21% or 13.19 million wet tons were consumed by smelters in Indonesia. The output of nickel ore in the first half of this year decreased a lot compared to the same period last year. , The annual nickel ore output in 2019 was 52.7 million wet tons.
Regarding the establishment of the task force, Prihadi Santoso, president of the Indonesian Smelting Enterprises Association, expressed support for the Indonesian government to treat 59 smelting companies and 291 mining companies as fair referees and make mutually beneficial plans for both parties. At the same time, the Secretary General of the Indonesian Mining Enterprise Association said in an interview that Indonesian mining companies need a task force to monitor nickel ore transactions, because the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mines has issued a benchmark price in May, but so far, Indonesian smelters have not abided by the regulations and have not purchased nickel ore at the benchmark price. .
