Indonesia Sets Up Mineral Agency to Oversee Rare Earths

ndonesian President Prabowo Subianto has set up a new mineral industry agency tasked with overseeing the development of rare earth elements and radioactive materials, the agency’s newly appointed chief said on Monday. “This agency will manage the strategic materials industry that relates to the defence industry, because strategic materials are quite important for the sovereignty of the nation, as well as important for the improvement of our economy,” said Brian Yulianto, the agency’s head and also Indonesia’s Minister of Higher Education, as reported by Reuters. Yulianto previously noted that rare earth metals are often present in by-products of mineral processing, particularly from nickel and tin—two of Indonesia’s key mining sectors. The country has been seeking to extract and process rare earths, such as monazite, from tin ore waste.