The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) stated that estimates of Indonesia’s nickel reserves are only sufficient for 15 years.
This prediction is based on the consumption rate of nickel reserves in the future. Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Investment, said that there is still no technical study to state that Indonesia’s nickel reserves are only sufficient for up to 15 years.
“There has not been a single technical study that states that 15 years is just a perception,” he said, on August 29, 2023.
He further explained that Indonesia’s nickel reserves in Papua are very abundant. He then asked a number of parties not to worry about Indonesia’s nickel reserves.
“So I’m not sure 15 years, there’s still a lot. In Papua there’s still a lot of nickel. So I think that what’s worrying about 15 years isn’t true,” he added.
Further exploration required because of high consumption
Currently, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is known to be actively exploring to encourage an increase in nickel reserves in Indonesia.
So far, there have been business entities interested in carrying out new exploration activities in green field areas.
According to the Geological Agency, as of December 2020, available nickel resources in Indonesia amounted to 13.7 billion tons of ore, with a total proven reserve of 4.6 billion tons of ore.
Irwandy Arif, Special Staff for the Acceleration of Mineral and Coal Management at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said that various parties have their own calculations regarding Indonesia’s nickel reserves. A number of parties say that reserves are only sufficient for 7 years, 10 years, even 15 years depending on the rate of consumption.
“The duration of these nickel reserves also depends on the discovery of new reserves from exploration. So the dynamics are called, it’s not certain for 7 years, there are developments,” he said, on August 18, 2023.
According to calculations by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the amount of mineral reserves also depends on the utilization of limonite nickel in addition to saprolite.
Meanwhile, the construction of pyrometallurgical smelters is increasingly rampant, automatically the rate of consumption of saprolite ore is increasing, so there are fears that it will run out quickly.
