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Indonesia trying to skirt its own ban on mineral ore exports

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Dec 9 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s government is still trying to find a way around a mineral ore export ban that the country’s parliament is refusing to allow it to sidestep, chief economic minister Hatta Rajasa said on Monday.

The ban, which comes into effect next month, is designed to increase the value of the country’s mineral exports. Indonesia has for decades and with limited success tried to create more value from its vast array of natural resources.

Raw Mineral Export Ban Looms

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Small- and medium-sized domestic mineral miners voiced concerns on Friday that they lacked the funds to comply with a long-anticipated ban on unprocessed mineral exports, due to begin next year. The current regulation indirectly favors large international firms, they said.

“The national mining industry will die before it develops,” the Indonesian Mineral Entrepreneurs Association said in a statement on Friday.

The association, known as Apemindo, argued that local miners, most with operations less than 10 years old, did not have enough capital to build their own smelters. Apemindo said that the ban would benefit foreign mining companies that had been operating in the country for many years and had already accumulated sufficient profits to build their own smelters.

Chinese steel mills need huge upgrades – General Electric

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

General Electric sees “tremendous upgrade opportunities” in China’s steel industry, the world’s largest, as more mills are revamping their facility to become more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The US giant expects Chinese mills, facing tighter environmental rules as they become global players, to require energy-efficient technologies and solutions on a big scale, although GE is unable to quantify the market size now, said Joe Mastrangelo, CEO of GE’s power conversion business.

Indonesia urges nations to be transparent about mineral requirements

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) – Indonesia has asked Japan, China and South Korea to be transparent about their mineral import requirements and provide guidance on the outlook for minerals to ensure market stability.

“Guidance on the outlook, such as the guidance for energy, is very important to maintain balanced supply and demand in the regions mineral and metal markets,” chairman of the ASEAN Plus Three Senior Officials Meeting on Minerals (ASOMM+3) R Sukhyar said here on Wednesday.

Vale’s New Caledonia plant closed for at least a month

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

The nickel company Vale in New Caledonia says its plant will remain closed until at least late December.

Vale suspended operations a week ago after it became known that an effluent pipe leading through a lagoon of a World Heritage site was broken.

It says an investigation has shown that there was too much air in the pipe, causing it to burst.

Indonesian gold mines and old Russian chemical manufacturing regions are among the most dangerous areas on earth

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

A list of ten filthy sites, from Russia to Indonesia to Ghana, has been amassed by the global environmental group The Blacksmith Institute – which says 200 million people are endangered daily in the top ten places alone.

Implications of Indonesia mining law clear but consequences are not

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation 27/2013, when it appeared two months ago, crystallised almost everything that worried foreigners about the tone and intent of the mining law passed in 2009.

Although one key intent was to re-create a reliable framework for foreign investment – which, outside coal, remains critical to developing Indonesia’s mineral resources – the law is characterised by a general suspicion of mining activity, a particular impatience with foreign ownership, unsparing regulation and government rent-seeking.

Zimbabwe may halt exports raw platinum exports -state media

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Nov 11 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe may halt exports of raw platinum to South Africa to force mining companies to build a refinery in the country as a two-year deadline has expired, state media quoted President Robert Mugabe as saying.