Indonesia mine export tax aimed at curbing output boomJAKARTA,...

Indonesia mine export tax aimed at curbing output boom
JAKARTA, April 4 (Reuters)

Indonesia's government is considering a hefty tax this year on mining exports to curb a production boom as miners are trying to overexploit resources before a 2014 law that will require raw ore to be upgraded, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

"Ever since we issued a mining law in 2009, miners have reacted by increasing their production multiple times, exploiting and exporting everything they've got...This is dangerous and we need to curb that," Thamrin Sihite, director general for coal and minerals at the mining industry, told Reuters.

Indonesia plans to impose a 25 percent export tax on coal and base metals this year, jumping to 50 percent in 2013, another industry ministry official told Reuters on Tuesday, one of a raft of regulations aimed at increasing government revenues that have worried global mining companies.

"We issued a ministerial regulation in February to ban unprocessed mineral ores and this new export tax regulation...We hope the tax will reduce the export rush further. But I can't tell you when it will be issued," Sihite added.

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