Indonesia has granted mineral export permits to 55 companies after it introduced a 20 percent tax to curb shipments of unprocessed minerals in May this year, according to media sources.
While Indonesia's new mining policy has resulted in a decline in mineral exports to key customers, the authorities are confident that this will provide more benefits to the country in the long term.
Including 32 nickel ore miners, six iron ore miners, two copper ore miners and 10 bauxite miners, some of the companies that gained approval for export are Newmont Mining Corp, PT Aneka Tambang, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, PT Sebuku Iron Lateritic Ores and PT Sambas Mineral Mining.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, in April Indonesia announced that it plans to raise the export tax to 50 percent in 2013, with a possible mining ban to be implemented in 2014 that may lead the mining industry to ramp up production and exports as much as possible before 2014.