In Maintaining National Mineral Sovereignty, Gold Governance Becomes Key to Raise Added Value

JAKARTA – Indonesia has substatial gold reserves, the fourth position globally. This strategic position is able to become a national pillar of sovereignty with optimal governance.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy has posted that domestic gold needs reach about 190-200 tons per year. However, the current gold reserve potential has not yet fully balanced with the gold supply entering the formal channel. Gold supply from the formal channel is only about 53.5 – 86.2 tons per year.

The disparity shows that there is still much room to strengthen the governance and integrate the national gold supply chain into the formal, transparent and standardized system.

Director General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Mineral and Coal Resources (ESDM), Tri Winarno, said that one of the problems still found in the national gold governance is the sale of gold illegally indicated.

“Various notes exist for this gold in which some sales have been identified as quote ‘illegal’,” said Tri in the forum MINDialogue: Commodities for the Country, Strategy for Strengthening Mineral Resources for Stability and Sovereignty of Indonesia’s Economy, in Jakarta, Wednesday (12/8/2026).

On the other hand, the Small Scale Gold Mining Sector (PESK) and peoples’ mining have made quite a large contribution to the national gold supply. The production from this sector is estimated to reach 50 – 120 tons per annum, or close to the volume of supply from the formal channel.

Tri said that the government is in the process of improving the governance of small-scale mining by facilitating mines which have so far been identified as illegal mining, to obtain permit through the People’s Mining Licence or Izin Pertambangan Rakyat (IPR).

“Therefore, in future, to improve the governance and other matters, the Ministry of Mineral and Coal Resources (ESDM) is trying to facilitate the license of miners identified as illegal, through the IPR mechanism,” Tri added.

Deputy Minister of Investment and Downstream Industry, and Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Todotua Pasaribu, said that Indonesia’s challenge is not only to raise economic growth, but also ensure that natural resource wealth is able to provide the most added value for the nation.

“We have nearly all resource diversification, natural resource. We have gas, we have oil, also the maritime sector, agriculture, we have nearly all range and we have what we call the strength of proficient reserve stock. But the problem is how we can create a higher value for the natural resource strength we have,” said Todotua.

In line with the above, MIND ID President Director, Maroef Sjamsoeddin, believes that mineral resource management, specifically gold, is not only a mere economic problem. He said that mineral management is also related to national interest in maintaining security, sovereignty, economic resilience, and welfare of the people.

“Mineral resources must be managed strategically, sustainably, and provide the biggest added value for the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) as mandated in the Preamble of the 1945 Constitution, which is for the sake of independence and sovereignty,” explained Maroef.

According to Maroef, there are still a number of aspects which need to be strengthened in the national gold governance. This includes the management of small-scale mining, traceability of the ore supply chain, to the strengthening of the mining product trade ecosystem so that it is connected to the formal channel.

MIND ID believes that such reorganization needs to be fully conducted with the involvement of institutional cross synergy, from the government, business world, to the people.

The transformation of the mineral reserve governance, said Maroef, needs to be conducted at every primary hub of the mining business process, from the upstream, midstream to the downstream sector.

In the upstream sector, MIND ID encourages the formalization of small-scale mining through the People’s Mining Licence or Izin Pertambangan Rakyat (IPR), supported by the harmonizatio of regulations and sustainable technical guidance.

This move is expected to make local people’s mining activities more secure and safe, while at the same time provide greater economic benefits for the people.

Meanwhile in the midstream sector, ore processing needs to be strengthened through the presence of a legal aggregator institution capable of ensuring the traceability of supply chain towards the formal system.

Through this scheme, companies appointed to be technical supervisors and offtakers, can ensure that the mineral products fulfill the required standards.

It is hoped that the strengthening of governance from upstream to midstream will raise the supply of raw materials entering the formal supply chain. This will strengthen the productivity of the national gold processing and refining industry, expand public access to standardized gold products, as well as support the strengthening of the national bullion ecosystem.

In MIND ID Group Holding, ANTAM has begun to construct the precious metal gold manufacturing plant in Gresik with a capacity of up to 30 tons per annum. This facility will add to the capacity of gold ingots owned by ANTAM in Pulogadung, Jakarta, with a production capacity of 40 tons per annum.

In this supply chain, the gold bar supply comes from two main sources, ANTAM’s gold mine in West Java of about 1 ton per annum, as well as the supply from the Precious Metal Refinery (PMR) of Freeport Indonesia, capable of processing anoda mud into gold bars of about 50 to 60 tons per annum.

With this integrated industrial supply chain, MIND ID is strengthening Indonesia’s bullion ecosystem to fulfill national precious metal gold demand, and it is projected to continuously grow in line with the increased demand for public gold investment.

Maroef further stated that MIND ID is certain that improvements to gold goverance will not only raise the added value and efficiency of the supply chain, but also ensure that Indonesia’s gold wealth is providing more benefits for the state and people.

Finally, the strengtheninng of national gold governance becomes part of the efforts to build sustainable economic sovereignty. With the supply chain connected legally, transparently, and integratedly from upstream to downstream, Indonesia can raise its economic activities while at the same time, strengthen its ability in protecting the natural resource strategic value for the welfare of the people and sovereignty of the nation.