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PrintDec 5 (Reuters) - Indonesian lawmakers rejected a government bid to water down a planned ban on shipments of unprocessed metals on Thursday, dashing Jakarta's attempts to keep much-needed export revenue flowing in.
The government, faced with a current account deficit at a near-record high, has been scrambling to ease nationalistic resource rules that were passed more than a year ago, including the ban on mineral ore exports from January 2014.
"I have tried to propose exceptions for ore exports, but the DPR (parliament) commission refused them," Energy Minister Jero Wacik said after a meeting with the parliament's mining committee. "There will be no exceptions."
Southeast Asia's largest economy is the world's top exporter of nickel ore, thermal coal and refined tin, and home to the world second-biggest copper mine.
Indonesia's investment chief said export revenue would drop by no more than 10 percent next year, despite the imminent ban on ore shipments.
Indonesia's major copper producers include U.S-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc and Newmont Mining Corp, while the gold industry has state-owned Aneka Tambang and Australia's Newcrest Mining.
Wacik told the committee that miners should be allowed to keep shipping unprocessed ore under certain conditions, including if they already had smelters under construction or agreed to pay higher export taxes.
To date, 28 companies have broken ground on Indonesian smelter projects, energy ministry officials had said earlier on Thursday, with more than 100 smelter proposals submitted.
In September, Newmont, the world's second-largest gold producer, warned employees at its giant Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Indonesia that it will start making contingency plans ahead of the export ban.
Freeport, which runs the world's second-biggest copper mine, warned in October that it could be forced to halt operations at its Grasberg site in Papua, along with Indonesia's only copper smelter, if the government does not ease the ban.
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