Indonesia eases ban on mineral exports
Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on January 12 announced sweeping changes to mining regulations that allow exports of nickel ore and bauxite for another five years under certain conditions. The announcement illustrates the challenges facing the resource-rich country, which instituted a ban on mineral ore exports from January 2014 in an effort to develop a local processing industry. Amid uncertainty over global commodity markets, nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange fell 4% on Thursday.
