"Whoever controls strategic natural resources, including nickel, will be able to control the global market," he said during a media gathering here on Friday.
Indonesia has the largest nickel ore reserves in the world, accounting for 23.7 percent of total global reserves. The largest nickel reserves have been detected in Maluku and Sulawesi.
Meanwhile, nickel ore mining production in Indonesia has reached 560 thousand tons of Ni — the highest in the world.
However, Toha said that the country still needs to make more efforts in downstreaming these nickel resources to generate added value.
So far, he noted, Indonesia has only managed to downstream nickel to the midstream stage or the second stage of the four stages of nickel downstreaming, which comprise upstream, midstream, downstream, and end industry.
He further said that Indonesia can learn from Japan, which has become a very advanced country due to its ability to process critical minerals such as nickel into expensive products or take them to the end industry stage.
Some forms of nickel downstreaming that reach the end industry stage are nickel-based industrial equipment, household appliances, medical equipment, super electromotors, consumer electronics, jet engines, aeronautics, electric vehicles, and power storage devices.
"That is why Japan is an industrial country that processes it into expensive products," Toha said.
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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul Habibah, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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