The Indonesian government continues to strive to improve comprehensive economic cooperation with a number of countries, including actively exploring Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) with non-traditional markets. One of the potential countries targeted is South Africa.“It can be said that currently both countries are exploring PTA which aims to open up market opportunities. PTA is an effort to strengthen the manufacturing industries of the two countries, especially in the military equipment sector, processed food products, and agriculture," said Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in Jakarta, Sunday (25/9).On Thursday (22/9), Minister of Industry Agus accompanied the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto to meet the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa Ebrahim Patel on the sidelines of the Trade, Industry, and Investment Ministerial Meeting (TIIMM) in a series of the Presidency's agenda. Indonesia's G20 in Bali.At the meeting, Coordinating Minister Airlangga said that the transition to low-carbon energy is an important aspect to achieve climate resilience that supports the environment and creates jobs."Indonesia's energy transition efforts towards being environmentally friendly are carried out through various national policies such as the use of electric-based vehicles by supporting the development of EV batteries that are supported by raw materials such as Nickel owned by Indonesia," he said.South Africa itself has the Just Energy Transition Partnership with France, Germany, the UK and the United States. This experience can be learned and best practice for Indonesia in finding a suitable model to deal with climate change issues in Indonesia.South Africa's investment in Indonesia during 2021 is USD1.46 million with a total of 14 projects. Meanwhile, Indonesia's total non-oil and gas trade with South Africa in 2021 reached USD2.8 billion, an increase of 122% compared to 2020 (USD1.3 billion). (LM)Source: https://www.idnfinancials.com/news/44445/ri-south-africa-explore-cooperation-energy-downstream-automotive-sectors

The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenko Marves) stated, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is important, as this in the future will be a necessity and requirement for mineral products and processes for batteries. Director of Coordination and Mining of the Coordinating Ministry of Marves Septian Hario Seto said the LCA would be completed to developed countries, particularly Europe, where they would need it. "In the Life Cycle Assessment, I think the idea is to calculate all emissions, the entire process here is used or carried out to produce minerals," he said in the talk show "The Advantage of Implementing Life Cycle Assessment in Mining Industry", Monday (26/9/2022). The process, which starts from the mining side, to for example becoming a precursor, stainless steel, and becoming a battery. "So, they're going to calculate the entire emissions that produce the environmental impact that's being generated because of this process here," Septian said. Nevertheless, he thinks there is a lot of debate and argument as to why this LCA is important, especially on the Blue Continent. "Because in Europe for example, they mention that you know, because your batteries or nickel are processed through coal, rather than actually saving emissions compared to combustion engines. When this nickel comes out in the battery it's not as high as you know, if nickel is processed for example or other forms of renewable energy, so this is very important," he concluded.Source: https://www.tribunnews.com/bisnis/2022/09/26/kemenko-marves-soroti-pentingnya-life-cycle-assesment-di-industri-tambang

PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM) or Antam is committed to continuing to support the downstreaming of mineral mining commodities, including bauxite. What's more, the government already plans to ban the export of raw bauxite in 2023. General Manager of Antam UBP Bauxite West Kalimantan Anas Safriatna said, Indonesia actually has abundant bauxite reserves. Specifically for Antam, this company has bauxite reserves of 105.95 million wet metric tons (wmt) as of the end of 2020. Meanwhile, Antam's bauxite resource is at the level of 585.83 wmt. It's just that, it must be admitted that the bauxite market in Indonesia is currently still limited. Antam itself can only supply bauxite ore to three domestic smelters, namely PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina (ICA), which in fact is a subsidiary of Antam, then there is PT Well Harvest Mining, and PT Bintan Indonesia Alumina. Most of Antam's bauxite is exported abroad. PT ICA has so far only been able to process bauxite into alumina, while for aluminum it must be processed again in a smelter owned by PT Inalum whose production capacity is 250,000 tons per year. "The need for aluminum in Indonesia reaches 1 million tons, but our production capability in the MIND ID Group is only 250,000 tons. There is still a gap that must be met," said Anas when met by Kontan, Thursday (22/9). He also assessed that the addition of bauxite processing smelters in Indonesia is very important to do, but while still paying attention to the readiness of the existing market. In addition to reducing imports of bauxite derivative products, the development of smelters is also useful because it will increase the added value of the bauxite commodity itself. Anas gave an example, the price of bauxite ore is currently in the range of US $ 30--US $ 35 per ton. When processed into alumina, the price can rise to US $ 500 per ton. The price increase will occur again when alumina is successfully processed into aluminum. "To maximize existing reserves, we really need to continue to develop downstream," he said. Apart from through PT ICA, Antam and MIND ID are currently building a Mempawah Smelter Grade Alumina Refinery (SGAR) which is included in the National Strategic Project (PSN). This project costs a budget of US$ 831.5 million.Source: https://industri.kontan.co.id/news/aneka-tambang-antm-menilai-hilirisasi-bauksit-perlu-dipercepat

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan inaugurated the QMB New Energy Materials project in Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi, Monday (26/9/2022). "Today we are not only witnessing the rapid construction of a green, ecological, and intelligent modern factory, but also seeing the birth of the first nickel resource industry museum in Indonesian history," he said as quoted through a press release from the Coordinating Ministry of Marves. For information, QMB is part of the Global Maritime Fulcrum Indonesia strategic cooperation framework and the One Belt, One Road initiative of the People's Republic of China (PRC). This collaboration focuses on the utilization of local and environmentally friendly labor. So far, said Luhut, collaboration is going well and certainly cannot be separated from the support of the local community, central government, local government, and other stakeholders. In addition to Indonesia, QMB is also a cooperation project with Korea and Japan. Thus, there are 4 countries in this cooperation, namely Indonesia, China, Korea, and Japan. Furthermore, Luhut said, through this inauguration, Indonesia finally has a hydrometallurgical engineering center for laterite nickel ore and new energy materials with the standards and quality of developed countries. This momentum is also a means of increasing comprehensive promotion for the development and utilization of laterite nickel mines in Indonesia. The design scale of this QMB project is to produce nickel, cobalt, manganese hydroxide as raw materials for ternary electric batteries with an output of 50,000 tons of metal nickel per year. In addition to inaugurating the QMB project, the former Presidential Chief of Staff also reviewed PT Indonesia Puqing Recycling Technology (Puqing), PT Huayou Nickel Cobalt, and CNGR. These three companies strive to guarantee the availability of raw materials for renewable industries downstream and upstream of the production chain. In addition, all of them seek to reduce carbon emissions produced in the process of processing renewable energy as a form of environmental protection. On the occasion of the inauguration, Luhut thanked Xu Kai Hua as the founder of GEM for training a large number of hydrometallurgical talents locally or from Indonesia. "Our best hope is that QMB will continue to advance like a sea wave in the field of new energy materials and always be at the forefront of the present to the future," he concluded.Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2022/09/26/211000326/resmikan-proyek-qmb-luhut--kita-melihat-lahirnya-museum-industri-nikel-yang

Indonesia’s plan to retire its coal-fired power plants over the next three decades and replace them with cleaner energy isn’t drawing support from potential investorsSoutheast Asia’s largest economy will need $600 billion to phase-out 15 gigawatts of coal generation and add a similar amount of renewable capacity over the period, State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said in an interview late Thursday.The plan is to keep coal fired-power plants running for another decade and then completely shift away from fossil fuels over the following 20 years, Thohir said. Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal, relies on the fuel to generate about 60% of its electricity.The government has done investor roadshows in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and some European nations to promote its energy-transition plans, Thohir said. Indonesia doesn’t want to rely on bond sales to support the shift, and is looking for direct investment from developed countries, he said. “But, no one responded to our offer.”Indonesia’s position on the future of coal power has been a source of confusion for other nations, and is coming into sharper focus with the country hosting this year’s G-20 meeting. While Jakarta offered some support to global efforts to phase out the use of the fuel at the COP26 climate summit last year, it didn’t back a clause calling for an end to the construction or financing of new plants.Donor countries that visited Indonesia this year raised concerns that President Joko Widodo’s cabinet has been split over the need to end the use of coal, and how to achieve that ambition, officials familiar with the discussions said in May.Strike a balanceIndonesia wants to strike a balance between boosting economic growth and developing green energy, Thohir said. It’s seeking to reduce demand for fossil fuels by promoting the use of electric vehicles and cooking stoves, as well as developing alternative energy sources, he said.“We want our energy mix later to consist of electricity, palm-based biodiesel and ethanol, just like Brazil and India,” Thohir said.To support the plan, the government is proposing to tell state-owned firms to open 700,000 hectares of land for sugar cane crops for producing ethanol and cutting imports. It’s also pushing projects for processing coal into dimethyl ether, a colorless gas that can be used in fuel, in the next three to four years to help lower the nation’s $4 billion-a-year bill for liquefied petroleum gas.“We must have energy security and we agree for transformation at our own pace, not what other countries wants us to do,” Thohir said.Coal consuming-countries like Vietnam, South Korea and Poland were among 23 nations that backed an agreement last year to phase out the use of the fuel for electricity generation, although opposition from China and India led to the watering down of a wider COP26 pact that instead focused on reducing consumption.Source: https://www.mining.com/web/indonesias-600-billion-plan-to-shut-coal-plants-struggles-for-support/

PT United Tractors Tbk (UNTR) will aggressively seek and purchase machineries for the mining contracting segment in order to maintain the volume of coals, following the end of the working contract with PT Adaro Energy Indonesia Tbk (ADRO). Until this day, ADRO is one of the customers that significantly brought in revenue for the company.In the public expose treatise quoted Friday (16/9), Iwan Hadiantoro, Director of UNTR, claimed that the company had spent IDR 3.9 trillion of its capital expenditure until July 2022. “They were mostly spent on new machine in order to support the operational activities of the mining contracting segment,” he added.According to Hadiantoro, the purchase of these new equipment will continue to take place until the realisation of the capital expenditure hit IDR 11.5 trillion at the end of this year.Although UNTR will lose its contract with ADRO, it has secured extra volume of coal production and overburden removal from its existing customers as the coal price regains its strength.Source: https://www.idnfinancials.com/news/44343/untr-aggressively-pursue-machine-mining-contracting

PT Delta Dunia Makmur Tbk. (DOID) through its subsidiary PT Bukit Makmur Mandiri Utama (BUMA) extended the contract from BHP and Mitusbishi Alliance (BMA) as a mining service provider at the Goonyella Riverside mine, Central Queensland, Australia. The contract extension has a duration of three years with the option of an extension of up to two more years. The US$400 million contract targets annual production to average 36 million bank cubic meters (bcm) Delta Dunia President Director Ronald Sutardja said the extension of the Goonyella mining contract was a testament to the good relationship and trust established between BUMA Australia and BMA. "This contract extension also reflects the track record of buma Australia's professional team in providing safe, efficient and consistent mining operational services for BMA coal mining projects," ronald said in an official statement quoted on Saturday (17/9/2022). This contract extension is the third win for BUMA Australia in 2022. Earlier on February 22, BUMA Australia announced it had extended a new contract worth AU$550 million at BMA's Blackwater mine. Then on May 10, 2022, BUMA announced a new contract worth AU$320 million with a duration of three years Along with a one-year extension option for Bowen Coking Coal's Broadmeadow East coking coal project, DOID posted revenues of US$723 million, an increase of 107 percent compared to the same period last year. The net profit printed by DOID reached US$6 million. Then for operational performance, DOID recorded overburden removal and coal production of 260 million BCM and 41 million tons, respectively. This figure grew significantly by 83 percent and 64 percent on a year-on-year basis, respectively. "This new contract is also a form of confidence in our capabilities and performance as one of the largest mining operators in Indonesia and Australia. Hopefully we can maintain this positive momentum so that we can continue to seize opportunities for business growth in the future," said Ronald.Source: https://market.bisnis.com/read/20220917/192/1578507/delta-dunia-doid-perpanjang-kontrak-jasa-di-tambang-australia

PT Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk explored the European market for coal exports which began with exporting hundreds of tons of the commodity to Italy. PTBA Finance and Risk Management Director Farida Thamrin said that her party is trying to open up export opportunities to countries in Europe to simultaneously take advantage of the moment of increasing coal prices in the global market. "Bukit Asam continues to increase the portion of exports, of course, not ignoring domestic needs," he said in a press statement in Palembang, Tuesday. According to Farida, the main export market of the company with the issuer code PTBA is currently still dominated by India, even there is an increase of up to two million tons on an annual basis (year on year / yoy) in the country. India is ptba's largest export destination with a share reaching 18 percent of total sales. Then, other destination countries followed by South Korea (4 percent), Thailand (3 percent), China (2 percent), and Cambodia (2 percent). Overall, Farida explained, the portion of coal export sales increased from 33 percent in the first quarter of 2022 to 38 percent in the second quarter of 2022. The increase in the second quarter caused the share of exports in the first half of 2022 to be recorded at 35 percent of all sales. The Average Selling Price (ASP) or average selling price in the second quarter of 2022 was recorded at IDR 1.3 million per ton, an increase of 14 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022 due to an increase in the portion of export sales. As for the domestic market, he said, the company continues to meet the supply of coal for domestic needs by 65 percent.' With the still high coal prices and increasing export needs and demand, the company is optimistic that it can continue to improve its performance until the end of 2022, he said. As of the first semester of 2022, PTBA posted a net profit of IDR 6.2 trillion, an increase of 246 percent compared to the same period last year of IDR 1.8 trillion. The achievement of net profit was supported by revenue of IDR 18.4 trillion, an increase of 79 percent compared to the same period last year. The cash reserve position was well maintained despite the highest dividend payment of IDR 7.9 trillion in June 2022. Nett cash was recorded at IDR 11.1 trillion. This achievement is also supported by the company's solid operational performance throughout the first semester of 2022. Prioritizing cost leadership in every line of the company, the company applies sustainable efficiencies optimally, said Farida. The total coal production of PTBA during the first semester of 2022 reached 15.9 million tons, an increase of 20 percent compared to the first semester of 2021 which was 13.3 million tons. Meanwhile, PTBA's coal sales per semester I-2022 amounted to 14.6 million tons, growing 13 percent on an annual basis.Source: https://www.antaranews.com/berita/3127745/ptba-jajaki-pasar-eropa-kirim-ratusan-ton-batu-bara-ke-italia

Far East has kicked off the first-ever drilling at its flagship Woyla copper-gold project in Indonesia’s Aceh Province to test for high grade epithermal and porphyry deposits.While previously held by the likes of Barrick and Newcrest in its 25-year history, the company trumped the two majors by securing approval to carry out drilling – something neither was able to achieve.Far East Gold (ASX:FEG) believes that Woyla is one of the most highly prospective undrilled copper gold projects in South-East Asia and will now test this theory by carrying out diamond drilling at the Anak Perak prospect.The 18-hole Phase 1 program totalling 2,560m will test the Anak Perak Main Zone vein system along 900m of strike to demonstrate resource potential within this area.Drill sites will be at 100m to 150m spacing and will test the vein at 50m and 100m vertical depth, and a second rig is being mobilised to site to complete the program.This will be followed by the 16-hole Phase 2 program totalling 2,440m that will test an additional 800m of Anak Perak vein strike length.Once these are completed, the company will progress to a program of resource definition drilling using multiple drill rigs.Other activityFar East has completed the current phase of induced polarisation survey works which were carried out in collaboration with the Geological Agency of ESDM at the Anak Perak prospect’s 4,700m long epithermal vein system.It has also started IP works at the Rek Rinti prospect vein system to further refine it planned drill program.Woyla projectWoyla covers 24,260 hectares and is known to host epithermal vein systems to 13,000m across its four priority prospect areas.Sampling has returned bonanza grade assay results of up to 119g/t gold and 1,179g/t silver within vein samples exhibiting ginguro bands, which are an important textural feature common to high-grade vein deposits such as Gosowong in Indonesia (6Moz gold at grades of 20-40g/t) and Hishikari in Japan (8Moz gold at grades of 30-40g/t).Source: https://stockhead.com.au/resources/copper-gold-drilling-is-a-go-at-far-easts-woyla-project/

The energy crisis in Continental Europe has made coal issuer PT Indo Tambangraya Megah Tbk. (ITMG) get coal demand from the "blue continent". Director of Indo Tambangraya Megah Jusnan Ruslan said that several coal requests from Europe had come to his side. However, with current production, ITMG will focus on supplying customers in the Asian market."In 2022, we will focus on our existing customers in Asia, some requests from Europe are already coming to us. However, with the current production, we still prioritize for customers who we have maintained for many years," said Jusnan in the Public Expose Live 2022, Thursday (15/9/2022).Jusnan said, in 2023 ITMG sees the possibility that coal demand will still be good in Asia, so ITMG will focus on protecting customers from the Asian region. "But we don't deny the prospects in Europe are also being studied by us.When demand will improve, in terms of price, we will not let go of these opportunities," he said. He continued, until the first semester of 2022, ITMG has grasped coal sales contracts as much as 88 percent, from the sales target of 20.5 million-21.5 million tons.With this number of contracts, there is still 12 percent of coal left that ITMG must sell until the end of the year. Meanwhile, throughout the first half of 2022, ITMG produced 7.7 million tons of coal.The sales volume reached 8.1 million tons, which was marketed to China 2.3 million tons, Indonesia 1.8 million tons, Japan 1.3 million tons, the Philippines 0.6 million tons, Bangladesh 0.5 million tons, and other countries in East Asia, Southeast, South and Oceania.For 2022, ITMG targets production volumes between 17.5-18.8 million tons with a sales volume of 20.5-21.5 million tons.Source: https://market.bisnis.com/read/20220915/192/1578037/dapat-permintaan-indo-tambangraya-megah-itmg-bakal-ekspor-ke-eropa