Indonesia has announced a yearly production limit for nickel ore, setting it at about 240 million metric tons for the coming three years, according to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif, speaking on Friday. This announcement marks a shift in how the country, a leading nickel ore supplier, handles its mining quota documents, now known as RKAB, extending their validity to three years. However, the government will still specify the production volume annually.
This modification to the quota system has led to some hiccups in getting approvals, which has, in turn, pushed a few smelting operations to source their ore from the Philippines, as noted by some insiders. Despite these delays, the quota should meet demand since the consumption of nickel ore last year was less than this year’s allocated quota, Arifin explained during a press briefing in Jakarta.
He speculated that the smelters currently importing ore might be dealing with miners who are still waiting on their RKAB approvals.
