MIND ID Expands Bauxite Downstreaming to Rare Earth Elements

Indonesian Mining Industry Holding MIND ID is expanding bauxite downstreaming by developing rare earth elements (REE) to create new economic value.

“If Indonesia is able to separate REE from its associated minerals economically and efficiently, Indonesia has in fact already become an REE processing country,” said MIND ID Deputy President Director Dany Amrul Ichdan in a statement in Jakarta on Monday.

As downstreaming develops, he said the company sees the need to strengthen the supply chain by optimising the potential of every mineral processing stage.

MIND ID has shipped 3,013.5 tonnes of Alumina Hydroxide and 1,740 tonnes of Alumina Oxide or Chemical Grade Alumina (CGA) from Dwikora Port, Pontianak, West Kalimantan, to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China.

The moment is believed to demonstrate that value-added products from Indonesia’s bauxite downstreaming are able to reach the global market.

REE has become a company target because its potential can be found in natural minerals as well as non-conventional sources, including bauxite residue, nickel slag, and tin processing by-products.

However, Dany said REE development requires regulatory certainty, especially because a number of REE elements are present as associated elements in very low grades.

He expressed hope that there will be clear and proportional content thresholds to distinguish REE as a primary mineral and as an associated element in export commodities.

“This certainty is important because the presence of REE in low grades does not automatically make a commodity feasible to be extracted as an REE product. Elements such as cerium and lanthanum, for example, can be found down to parts per million (ppm) levels,” Dany explained.

To build this capability, MIND ID together with the Mineral Industry Agency (BIM) and supported by BRIN is preparing a national REE processing and refining technology roadmap, including mapping of raw material sources and required technologies.

REE development is considered strategic because it is needed by various future industries, from electric vehicles, renewable energy, electronics, to high-tech manufacturing.

“MIND ID continues to open space for collaboration with all stakeholders to strengthen national industrial independence while creating new sources of economic growth for Indonesia,” he said.