Indonesia's quartz sand sector has great potential for development

The Ministry of Investment and the Ministry of Downstreaming/Investment Coordination Committee encourage local entrepreneurs to continue to grow and develop to become major players in the country, including in the quartz sand commodity management industry.The Deputy Minister and Vice Chairman of the Ministry of Investment said that they had received a visit from the Indonesian Quartz Sand Miners Association, and that the potential of Indonesian quartz sand was beginning to receive attention from a number of domestic and foreign investors. The government wants to ensure that the empowerment of local entrepreneurs is fully supported and that policies are put in place to streamline the licensing process without ignoring the risks that will be faced. In addition the government also wants local entrepreneurs to be involved and play a role in every large investment coming into Indonesia. Therefore it becomes very important to strengthen the local industry, especially in downstreaming. The Chairman of the Association believes that the differences in reference prices of minerals across provinces reduce the competitiveness of investments in this mining sector. He also emphasized the differences in regulations and policies on quartz sand mining in different regions. Currently, quartz sand in Riau Islands provinces of Linga and Natuna is set at 250,000 rupiah per ton, while in West Kalimantan province of Ketapang it is only 26,415 rupiah per ton, and in Trifa it is 66,038 rupiah per ton, a difference of up to 9,461 TP3 T. This difference is not in line with the regulations on the relationship between the central and local finances, which should be referenced to the price of the mouth of the mines. In addition, he also pointed out that the mining license process takes 2-3 years, which is not in line with the needs of investors who want to get a large and continuous supply of raw materials, and the government needs to speed up the process of licensing from the area of the mining license to the license for the production and operation of the license while complying with the current regulations.