Indonesia will abolish quotas for unprocessed mineral exports, the finance minister announced on Friday, among several measures introduced to boost investor confidence in the country's mining sector.
"The government has removed the export quota for mineral and metal ores, but will keep the export tax at 20 percent," minister Chatib Basri told reporters, referring to a tax on unprocessed metal exports that was introduced in 2012 to push mining companies to develop smelters.
Basri added that the tax would remain in place until 2014, when all unprocessed mineral exports will be banned.
Indonesia is the world's top exporter of nickel ore.