Government pushes strengthening of gold ecosystem to support monetary system
Although absorption has not been as massive as in developed countries, Indonesia’s gold production is said to have reached around 100 tonnes per year.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government is encouraging the strengthening of the gold ecosystem from upstream to downstream as an effort to support Indonesia’s monetary system.
“This starts from production, traceability, refining, trading, to bullion banking. This will contribute greatly to the country’s economy,” said Deputy for Energy and Mineral Resources at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Elen Setiadi in a joint statement with MINDialogue in Jakarta on Friday.
Based on a report by the Indonesian Mining Institute as of August 2026, Indonesia is estimated to have potential mine gold reserves of 3,600 tonnes.
However, behind that potential, the monetary gold reserves held by Bank Indonesia are only recorded at 87.1 tonnes, or around 7.7 percent of total reserves. With that holding, Indonesia is in 44th position in the world in terms of central bank gold reserves.
As an illustration, developed countries such as the United States have gold reserves reaching 8,133.5 tonnes; Germany (3,349.5 tonnes); Italy (2,451.8 tonnes); France (2,437 tonnes); and China (2,346.4 tonnes).
“Although absorption has not been as massive as in developed countries, Indonesia’s gold production is said to have reached around 100 tonnes per year,” he added.
According to Elen, gold is not only a mining commodity, but can also develop into a financial instrument and a strategic state asset capable of supporting the monetary system.
Meanwhile, Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Tri Winarno said that officially recorded production does not yet fully reflect gold activity on the ground.
Going forward, he said the government will encourage the structuring of community mining activities through People’s Mining Areas and People’s Mining Permits.
These efforts are expected to make gold mining activities more orderly and their production accountable, while reducing the circulation of gold through illegal channels.
Meanwhile, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs noted that Indonesia has strong capital to strengthen the national gold ecosystem.
As an illustration, within the MIND ID Group, PT Antam Tbk currently has a refining facility with a capacity of 150 tonnes per year. In addition, there is the Manyar Smelter owned by PT Freeport Indonesia which is capable of refining up to 50 tonnes of gold per year.
Meanwhile, from the private sector, the smelter of PT Amman Mineral Internasional Tbk is capable of processing gold with a capacity of 18 tonnes per year.
As for ore production potential, it is also supported by a number of other mining companies, such as PT J Resources Asia Pasifik Tbk at 2.4–2.7 tonnes; PT Merdeka Copper Gold Tbk at 2.9 tonnes; PT Archi Indonesia Tbk at 2.6 tonnes; PT Agincourt Resources at 5.9–6.8 tonnes; and PT Bumi Resources Minerals Tbk at 2.2 tonnes per year.