Jakarta –
Rare earth metals, aka rare earth, are found in Indonesia. This commodity is said to be one of Indonesia’s natural treasures.
Currently, rare earths are becoming a much sought after commodity, even the Chinese private sector has claimed to want to buy all the rare earth metal content in Indonesia. This was stated by the President Director of PT Timah Achmad Ardianto.
He said PT Timah was currently looking for a way to extract the rare earth metals contained in monazite. These minerals are often found in tin mines.
Although the technology for extracting rare earths is still being sought, according to Achmad, from now on there must be market certainty for rare earth products produced by PT Timah. According to him, it must be clear that the rare earth will be used domestically or it can be used by the private sector.
“We also want to make sure that we have end users (rare earth users), we don’t need the private sector. The Indonesian government can also control it for aviation, defense,” said Achmad in a working meeting with Commission VII DPR, Monday (11/4/2022) .
Regarding private users, there are already many enthusiasts. Achmad said defense and aviation company from the United States, Lockheed Martin had expressed interest in buying rare earth metals from Indonesia.
“Currently Lockheed Martin has shown interest in buying rare earth metals from Indonesia,” explained Achmad.
In fact, according to Achmad, there is a company from China that wants to buy up all the rare earth products in Indonesia.
“In addition, there are Chinese companies who say they want to buy everything if no one wants to buy it,” continued Achmad.
However, according to him, his party cannot simply choose who the rare earth buyers are. There must be a role for the government to determine whether rare earths will be used domestically or may be exported. “From a political point of view, we must also see what it is like,” he said.
On the other hand, the Director General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ridwan Djamaluddin, said that the government had yet to determine whether to hold off on rare earth exports or to grant export permits. Everything is still being discussed.
“Whether we will decide to withhold exports or we will immediately determine from the moment of formation, what we hold, which we want to export. This is important, we will discuss it later,” said Ridwan.
Ridwan said the government would quickly decide whether rare earth metals would be used domestically or for export.
“China just wants to buy everything but doesn’t know what it’s for, he just buys it and collects it,” said Ridwan.
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(hal/zlf)
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