JAKARTA, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Indonesia is auctioning from Tuesday about 629,000 metric tons of bauxite stockpiles taken over by the government, which stand to earn it about 200 billion rupiah ($12 million), an energy ministry official said.
The southeast Asian nation banned exports of the aluminium raw material in mid-2023 to encourage domestic processing of the ore, a move that a miners’ group warned could harm the industry, as available processing capacity was still limited.
The auction aims to boost state revenues and ensure legal certainty for assets under government control, the official, Jeffri Huwae, said in a statement.
“The stockpile is the leftover from mining operations carried out by companies holding mining permits, whose permits have now expired and the material has not yet been sold,” Huwae said, adding that it was not related to any criminal case.
By law, the ministry said, management of mining operations, including any mining output by the previous operator, reverts to the government on expiry of the mining permit.
The bauxite originated from mines across the province of Riau Islands, where permits had expired in the period from 2013 to 2018, the ministry said, without identifying the licence holders.
The auction will start on Tuesday and end on December 22, it added.
($1=16,690 rupiah)
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Editing by David Stanway and Clarence Fernandez)
