ESDM affirms commitment to curbing mining sector overproduction

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has affirmed that the decline in production in the mining sector is intended to safeguard natural resources from over-exploitation.

“If we look solely at production (of mining commodities), we have indeed declined. But we do have natural resources that should not be squandered,” said Director General of Minerals and Coal (Dirjen Minerba) at the Ministry of ESDM, Tri Winarno, when met at the Ministry of ESDM office in Jakarta on Thursday (6/8).

The statement was made in response to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS). BPS recorded growth in nearly all business fields, except for mining and quarrying, which contracted by 1.64 percent.

The mining sector is considered to have experienced a slowdown due to production quota restrictions. Tri confirmed that the decline occurred in terms of production.

“However, in terms of monetary value, it is almost the same even though production has declined. Why? Because prices have risen,” said Tri.

Meanwhile, regarding copper production, Tri stated that there has indeed been a decline in production by PT Freeport Indonesia since the landslide incident in the Grasberg Block Cave (GBC) underground mine area in Mimika, Central Papua, on 8 September 2025.

The incident caused Freeport Indonesia to temporarily halt production at the GBC mine.

“So regarding copper, it is indeed because Freeport’s production dropped drastically due to the landslide,” said Tri.

In the first half of 2026, Freeport Indonesia reported that the GBC mine’s production capacity after the landslide incident was around 50 percent of normal capacity. Freeport then estimated that in the second half of 2026, production capacity would increase to 65 percent.

In the first half of 2027, production capacity is targeted to recover to 75 percent, before reaching 100 percent throughout the second half of 2027.