Jakarta –
Rare earth metal, aka rare earth, is one of the commodities that are labeled as treasures in Indonesia. This resource has also begun to be targeted by many countries.
Then how valuable are rare earths to be labeled as treasures?
According to the President Director of PT Timah, Achmad Ardianto, economically, the price of rare earths is actually not too expensive. He also suspects that the technology for extracting rare earths doesn’t have to cost a lot. It’s just that according to him, currently rare earths are in great demand and sought after by many people.
“Actually, the price is not that great, it’s just that this will always be needed. My guess is that the technology doesn’t look that expensive either. Because the product is not expensive either,” said Achmad in a working meeting with Commission VII DPR, Monday (11/4/2022). ).
Achmad stated that the most expensive rare earth products may only be around US$ 6,000 per ton. When converted into rupiah, the amount is only around Rp. 86.1 million in an exchange rate of Rp. 14,350.
“That’s one of the most expensive probably between US $ 6,000 per ton, the bottom is US $ 1500 to 2000 per ton,” Achmad said.
According to him, rare earth metals have a very high strategic element and are very much needed in the world. While the availability is not much.
“This rare earth metal does have a very high strategic element, it is needed by the whole world, the availability is not much, and the owner of the technology is also not much,” explained Achmad.
PT Timah itself is looking for technology to manage rare earth from monazite mineral. These minerals are often found in tin mines. It is very difficult to find the monazite alone, from one ton of tin ore there is less than 1% monazite content.
After the monasite there needs to be technology to do the extraction of its rare earth contents.
“From one tonne of tin ore, the monazite is only 0.95% or less than 1%, this is very small. But this value is extraordinary because it is very much needed,” said Achmad.
Meanwhile, as reported by Reuters, the price of rare earths in China is fluctuating at a high level, namely at the level of hundreds of thousands of dollars per ton. Rare earth prices have surged since the second half of 2021 amid concerns over supply uncertainty from Myanmar.
The price of China’s praseodymium-neodymium rare earth alloy was at the level of US$ 218,395 per ton in early March. That is, when converted to Rp 3.13 billion. The material is used to make super strong magnets for electric vehicle motors.
(hal/zlf)
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