Jakarta – The government gave a strong signal to provide relaxation (easing) mineral mining export permits, both exports of raw materials (ore material) and concentrates. This signal appears after the issuance of Government Regulation (PP) Number 1 of 2017 concerning the Fourth Amendment to PP No.23 / 2010 concerning Implementation of Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities in early January 2017.

This policy received strong protests from the Indonesian Civil Society Coalition Publish What You Pay (PWYP). PWYP Indonesia’s National Coordinator, Maryati Abdullah stressed that this policy clearly violated the mandate of the Minerba Law articles 102 and 103 which obliged the mineral and coal companies to process and refine their mining products domestically.

“This policy also contradicts article 170 which requires all holders of Contract of Work (CoW) who have been producing to purify no later than 5 (five) years since the Minerba Act was enacted in 2009,” said Maryati.

Not only that, the mineral mining export relaxation policy also shows that the government is not subject to the Constitutional Court Decision Number 10 / PUU-XII / 2014 which strengthens domestic processing and refining obligations, and states that the spirit of the Minerba Act is in line with Article 33 The 1945 Constitution because this obligation directly or indirectly provides maximum benefits for the prosperity of the people.

“Therefore, we urge President Joko Widodo and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ignasius Jonan to cancel the policy of relaxation of mineral mining exports, both for the export of raw materials (ore materials) and concentrates,” said Maryati.

Source: here.

In Media, Media Coverage|PWYP Indonesia|January 20th, 2017