The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry of Indonesia has officially cancelled the export permits of five mining companies as they failed to show progress in developing smelters as per the prevailing laws and regulations.

The five mining companies are PT Surya Saga Utama, PT Genba Multi Mineral, PT Modern Cahaya Makmur, PT Lobindo Nusa Persada and PT Integra Mining Nusantara.

However, the government will return the permits to these companies if they can show significant progress in building smelters, said the ministry’s mineral director Yunus Saefulhak in a statement.

He particularly said, “This is a temporary revocation. We will activate their permits when they manage to show progress in smelter development. We have to be firm in enforcing the law on the smelter requirement.”

He also said the government had also permanently withdrawn the export permit of PT Gunung Bintan Abadi (GBA), a bauxite producer in Riau, claiming that the company had ignored three government warnings.

“The local government also revoked its [mining] permit because of misuse,” Yunus said. He further explained that the mining company had exported 1.2 million tonnes of bauxite annually, including the ore produced by other companies.

The requirement for mining companies to have smelters in Indonesia was stipulated by Law No.4/2009 on coal and mineral mining to add value to the country's mineral commodities.