Great Outlook from MGEI’s CEO Forum 2023.

On Thursday 9th March 2023 the Indonesian economic geology association [MGEI] presented their 5th CEO’s forum 2023 with the them of “Depicting Indonesia’s Mining Industry and Beyond; Building Reputation, Seizing Opportunities in Unity Against All Odds”. The event was held in a Jakarta hotel, attended by up to 100 people, with 4 major speakers delivering in English.

These are personal notes, wherein I apologize for any errors or omissions. These notes should not be used for commercial decisions.

Welcome and Keynote speakers.

The chairman of MDEI and chairman on IAGI welcomed distinguished speakers and guests. Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesian Minister of Investment gave a short keynote address that mentioned the importance of this CEO conference in bringing forward the industry challengers of the exploration and mining industries.

Dr Harianto, Head of the Indonesian Geological Agency emphasized that MGEI and the Directorate are partners in supporting the exploration and mining industries. In this post Covid 19 era, it is essential to stimulate national development, including the exploration and mining industries. Today’s CEO forum is seen as supporting such initiatives.

The geological agency’s role includes ;

·???????Investigation and research of mineral and coal resources.

·???????Green mining programs

·???????Supporting upstream development in minerals & coal.

·???????Improve national data records on resources & reserves.

·???????To develop new areas for exploration & mining.

·???????Publish annual reports on minerals & coal

·???????To encourage further national and foreign investment in the Indonesian exploration & mining industry.

Yoseph Swamidharma, director of PT. Gemala Borneo Utama undertook the first moderator’s role, with Robby Rafianto, director of CITA Mineral Investindo taking on the second session moderators role.

Jim Sweeny, Executive Committee Member of PT. Merdeka Copper Gold Tbk, presented an overview of the company and their principal projects of Tuju Bukit Gold Mine, Wetar copper Mine, Pani Gold Project and new ventures of Merdeka Battery Materials. Merdeka has now been listed on the IDX for 10 years and continues to grow. Last year the Tuju Bukit project drilled 30,000m with sublevel stoping due to start soon, the Wetar project drilled 22,000m and Pani project has drilled a total of 70,000m with the feasibility study to be completed at the end of 2023. Merdeka has 2 nickel concessions in small scale production, that will ramp up once the road to the HPAL and RKAF smelters that are being upgraded.?The Wetar copper heap leach of sulphide ores recovers about 60-70% of copper. The new Acid Iron Metal (AIM) wherein waste leach heap material will be barged from Wetar to Morowali to convert the pyrite to industrial acid, iron pellets and recover further copper, along with traces of gold, silver and zinc. Construction of the AIM plant is well underway. The presentation was wound up with a reminder of Merdeks’s strong commitment to sustainability.

Discussion indicated the Wetar pyrite ore cut-off grade at 34% Sulphur and 34% iron. Their AIM plant may consider buying in other ores. Separately it was noted that rough seas may limit barging to 70% of the year. Wetar will engage barging contractors. Weter nickel resources are about 70% limonite and 23% saprolite.

Julismi, Vice President of Energy Development PT. Bukit Asam Tbk, with the theme “Deeply Routed and Respected National Company in Embracing Domestic and Global Challengers on Greener Energy”. The general introduction outlined briefly the history of PT. BA, its present operations, performance (2022 coal sales 31.65 mill ton of coal), industrial outlook for coal and renewable energy. A major challenge is to develop coal downstream projects, including the proposed coal to DME in South Sumatra, and expand a number of renewable energy projects in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java. Various ESG projects are ongoing.?

Discussion indicated PT.BA would like to lift production to from 37.1 million ton in 2022 (railed 28.8 mill ton), to mine 38 – 40 million ton in 2023. No information on drilling was available.

Muliady Sutio, President Director of PT. Agincourt Resources presented on “10 years of PTAR; A decade reflection and sustaining effort to become a respectable world class mining company; Expanding deeper, wider and bigger”. The presentation provided an outline of the Companies history of development and production, including its positive impact on the community. The overall future challenges for expanding deeper, wider and bigger being addressed are 1) for exploration to further define several projects, 2)extending mine life beyond Carbon In Leach processing to process the ore change to sulphides, 3) Adding further tailings capacity, 4) meeting increasing regulatory and socio-economic demand.

Discussion indicated the initial oxide grade of 2.76g/t was initially mined with small production volumes (3.7 mill tpa), wherein the mine is growing to large scale throughput (6.5 mill tpa) of grades at 1.5g/t and increasing sulphide content. Life of mine tailings design considering 71 mill ton capacity. Twenty one percent of the workforce are women.

Shane responded to a general question on why the Indonesian coal companies prefer contract miners, while hard rock mines prefer to mine themselves. Essentially coal mining is more predictable, and can be cheaper where a contractor can share his overheads (including human resources) between several project. Metal miners often need to adjust mining on an hourly / shift bases to meet variability in the pit and blended grade feed to the process plant, along with short term tailings controls, wherein this can be more readily achieved in house.

Shane Menere, CEO and Co-founder of Far East Gold. This ASX listed company has 3 grass roots projects in Indonesia, and 3 in Australia. The bulk of the funds raised and focuss of the company is to prioritize the Indonesian projects of Woyla, Tranggalek and Wonogiri Cu Au projects. Woyla’s phase 1 scout project undertook much mapping, and completed 33 diamond drill holes for 4,640m. Phase 2 Woyla has identified 4 epithermal and 1 porphyry target. The 2023 drill program is to undertake more mapping, along with 2 rigs to drill 11 holes at 50m intervals along from the Rek Rinti target vein, and 1 drill rig assigned to the Anak Perak vein target. On the 15th March 2022, Far East Gold became the first junior exploration company in Australia & Indonesia to join the UN Global Compact whose principals include aspects on human rights, labour rites, environment and anti-corruption.

Discussion included confidence in the quality of their geologists and support teams. FEG raised funds on the ASX as the management had good experience in raising funds from this source, and further fund raising is likely. FEG is an example how a foreign junior exploration company can adapt over time to become a leading Indonesian explorer.?