Indonesia Designates 47 Critical Minerals to Boost Strategic Industries
The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has officially designated 47 minerals as critical, marking a significant step in the country’s resource management strategy.
This designation, outlined in Ministerial Decree No. 296.K/MB.01/MEM.B/2023, aims to secure raw material supply for domestic strategic industries and enhance the national economy, defense, and security.
Defining Critical Minerals
According to the decree issued on September 14, 2023, critical minerals are defined as those with crucial applications for the national economy and defense security, potentially facing supply disruptions and lacking suitable substitutes. To be classified as critical, a mineral must meet four criteria:
1. Serve as a raw material for national strategic industries
2. Provide significant value to the national economy and defense security
3. Face high supply risks
4. Lack of suitable substitutes
Rationale Behind the Classification
The Directorate General of Mineral and Coal (Ditjen Minerba) at the Ministry of ESDM outlined several reasons for formulating this list of critical minerals:
1. Ensuring a stable supply of specific minerals for strategic industries
2. Addressing weak mineral reserve resilience
3. Reducing dependency on high mineral imports
4. Mitigating the export of certain resource-based minerals due to limited advanced refining technologies
5. Completing the industrial linkage local value chain
6. Attracting large investments for mineral downstream processing
The 47 Critical Minerals
The comprehensive list of critical minerals includes both commonly known elements and rarer materials are.
- Aluminum (from bauxite)
- Antimony
- Barium (from barite)
- Beryllium
- Iron (from iron ore and iron sand)
- Bismuth
- Boron
- Cadmium
- Feldspar
- Fluorspar
- Phosphorus (from phosphate)
- Galena
- Gallium
- Germanium
- Graphite
- Hafnium
- Indium
- Potassium
- Calcium
- Cobalt
- Chromium (from chromite)
- Lithium
- Rare Earth Elements
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Mercury (from cinnabar)
- Molybdenum
- Nickel
- Niobium
- Palladium
- Platinum
- Ruthenium
- Selenium
- Zinc
- Silica (from quartz sand, quartzite, quartz crystal)
- Sulfur
- Scandium
- Strontium
- Tantalum
- Tellurium
- Copper
- Tin
- Titanium
- Thorium
- Tungsten (Wolfram)
- Vanadium
- Zirconium (from zircon)
This strategic move by Indonesia aligns with global trends of securing critical mineral supplies, reflecting the country’s commitment to leveraging its natural resources for economic development and national security.
As one of the world’s major mineral producers, Indonesia’s classification of critical minerals is likely to have significant implications for both domestic and international markets in the coming years.
