Prospects of Non-Metal Minerals in Indonesia

 

The potential and reserves of non-metallic minerals owned by Indonesia are quite large and spread almost evenly in all regions in Indonesia, including limestone with the largest reserves, around 12.75 billion tons, granite 10.69 billion tons, marble 7.15 billion tons, sand 4.48 billion tons of quartz, 1.19 billion tons of dolomite, and 723.56 million tons of kaolin. While others are below 500 million tons on average. During 2007, the production of limestone was 79.99 million tons, granite 8.15 million tons, quartz sand 3.02 million tons, kaolin 407.72 thousand tons, bentonite 160, 48 thousand tons, dolomite 201.13 thousand tons, phosphate 154 .09 thousand tons, 34.02 thousand tons of feldspar, and 68.77 thousand tons of marble.

While the growth rate of Indonesia's imports of non-metallic minerals is still high, this is due to:

• the performance of the non-metallic mineral sector is still conventional with low added value;
• the mining industry for non-metallic minerals is still limited to pure mining activities,
• lack of investment/capital in the non-metallic minerals sector,
• undeveloped processing technology so that it is difficult to compete with imported products,
• lack of promotion from entrepreneurs of non-metallic minerals regarding their products,
• entrepreneurs in the non-metallic mineral sector are still in the category of small entrepreneurs;
• weak human resource capacity in the non-metallic minerals sector, minimal support from banking institutions,
• the potential properties of dispersed non-metallic minerals,
• domestic consumers who prefer to use imported non-metallic minerals,
• the application of rules that have not been good, and
• the number of illegal non-metallic minerals business.

These various problems show that management in the non-metallic mineral exploitation sector in Indonesia has not been maximized, so that until now the sector has not provided optimal benefits and welfare for the nation and state.

To overcome these problems, the government, entrepreneurs, and investors in the non-metallic mineral industry sector are expected to adopt an integralistic and comprehensive policy so that the non-metallic minerals sector can develop, be resilient, so that it can provide an optimal role for the national economy.