Indonesia doubles royalties on the sales of nickel ore, copper ore and bauxite effective Dec 25 as the country focuses on reducing minerals exports and incentivise local smelters. The decision comes ahead of a scheduled ban on export of nickel ore from January 2020.
Royalties on sales of nickel ore will be raised to 10pc, copper ore to 5pc, copper concentrate to 4pc and bauxite to 7pc, according to local media. Indonesian mining minister said that royalties needed readjustment to incentivise domestic smelters and encourage miners to add values to ores before export. In line with this, the government has halved royalties on sale of semi-finished product ferronickel and nickel matte by 2pc.
Indonesia exported around 83.04mn mt of nickel ore, 980,832mt of copper ore and 85,430mt bauxite from Jan-Sep. The export of nickel matte was 213,030mt and ferro-nickel was 2.24mn mt during the period, according to Davis Index analysis.