Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, on Monday, February 26, 2024, attended the signing of transaction documents for the acquisition of 14 percent of PT Vale Indonesia by MIND ID, making the Indonesian government the largest shareholder of the mining company.
“I think today is an important day because it will mark the Indonesian government, through MIND ID, becoming the largest shareholder of PT Vale Indonesia. This will be an important matter in Indonesia’s nickel downstreaming program in the future, especially to supply nickel derivative products to the European and IRA-United States markets,” said Luhut.
PT Vale Indonesia is one of the companies with the largest nickel reserves in Indonesia and also has good ESG (Environmental, social, and corporate governance) management. Luhut underlined, however, that despite the good ESG management, the company’s downstream program is still far behind the others.
“Therefore, I ask MIND ID and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to ensure that the downstream development can run profitably. This must be included in the IUPK (Special Mining Business Permit) obligation,” Luhut added.
Luhut also reminded the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the unresolved issues related to licence applications. “Lastly, I ask that the outstanding licences, especially the IUPK, be issued this week, so that the acquisition transaction process can be completed immediately,” Luhut concluded.
