Selling gold from an Indonesian mine: refining and buyers

A gold mine doesn’t sell ore. It pours doré, a bar of mostly gold and silver with some base metals, and most buyers want that doré refined into bullion before they’ll pay full value for it. In Indonesia the law decides where the refining happens, and since 23 December 2025 an export duty has shaped where the refined gold goes.

For an investor, the sales route matters as much as the deposit. It sets the price the mine actually receives, the charges that come off it and the documents needed to show where the gold came from.

Refining happens in Indonesia

Under the Mining Law (Law 4 of 2009, as amended by Law 3 of 2020), a producer of metal minerals has to add value by processing and refining them in Indonesia (Articles 102 and 103). The energy minister sets the minimum processing and refining standard for each mineral, after coordinating with the industry minister (Article 169 of Government Regulation 96 of 2021).

Government Regulation 39 of 2025, in force since 11 September 2025, rewrote the sales rule in Article 158. A producer may sell in Indonesia, giving priority to state-owned companies in sectors such as energy and fertiliser, or it may sell abroad. A metal mineral can only be exported once it meets the minimum refining standard and once domestic demand from refiners and strategic industries has been met.

So doré normally goes to a refinery in Indonesia. The mine either sells it outright or pays a refining fee and takes the refined gold back. The best-known refinery belongs to Antam, the state-owned miner, which is on the Good Delivery List of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). Antam said in December 2025 that it doesn’t export gold and that all its output goes to the domestic market.

Who buys the gold

The domestic market has more buyers than it did a few years ago. In early 2025 the financial services authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, OJK) licensed the first two bullion businesses under OJK Regulation 17 of 2024: Pegadaian, the state-owned pawnshop company, and the state-owned Islamic bank Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). The President launched the service soon after. Pegadaian now offers gold trading, gold deposits, custody for companies and gold working-capital loans. In August 2026 an association for the national bullion market was formed, with 11 member companies from mining, refining, banking and bullion dealing.

Jewellery makers and gold traders buy too. A company that buys, carries and resells minerals from mines needs its own transport and sales licence (Izin Pengangkutan dan Penjualan) under the Mining Law, so ask a trader to show one.

Whoever buys, the gold has to come from a licensed source. Minerals dug without a licence are treated as seized goods or state property (Article 123B). Collecting, processing, refining, carrying or selling them carries up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to IDR 100 billion (Article 161), as illegal gold mining explains.

The export duty on gold

Finance Minister Regulation 80 of 2025 put an export duty on gold, collected from 23 December 2025. The rate depends on the form of the gold and on a reference price that the trade minister sets for each half-month, using energy ministry data based on LBMA prices.

Form of gold	Reference price from USD 2,800 to below USD 3,200 per troy ounce	Reference price of USD 3,200 per troy ounce or more
Doré	12.5%	15%
Granules and similar unwrought forms	10%	12.5%
Lumps, ingots and cast bars, not doré	7.5%	10%
Minted bars	7.5%	10%

The duty is worked out on the export benchmark price (Harga Patokan Ekspor, HPE) rather than on the invoice. The trade minister sets the benchmark and the reference price together: the decision for 15 to 31 October 2026 is Trade Minister Decision 2008 of 2026. Gold carried abroad by an air passenger pays the duty too.

The effect has been large. Customs reported gold exports of 3.74 tonnes from January to September 2026, against 19.66 tonnes in the whole of 2025, and said some exporters were holding their gold back. Export earnings from natural resources also fall under the rules on keeping foreign currency in Indonesian banks, covered in moving money in and out.

What buyers ask to see

A refinery or a bullion business checks where gold comes from before it pays, and a refiner on the LBMA list has its own supply-chain checks to answer for. Expect to provide:

• the production licence (IUP or IUPK) and its record in the energy ministry’s system
• the approved work plan and budget (RKAB) for the year, which sets how much the mine may produce
• receipts for the royalty paid on the gold being sold
• assay certificates, and for bullion a bar list with weight, fineness and serial numbers
• company documents and the names of the beneficial owners
• for an export, the customs declaration and proof that the export duty was paid

The weak point is usually gold bought from small miners. Mixed with a licensed mine’s output, it puts the whole shipment at risk.

Before you sign a sales contract

Read the price formula first. Most gold contracts start from an international gold price and then deduct refining charges, recovery losses and penalties for impurities, so ask how each is measured and who checks the assay. Agree who pays the royalty and any export duty, when the price is fixed and where ownership of the gold passes.

Then check the buyer: its OJK bullion licence, its transport and sales licence or the refinery’s own permits. If a contract assumes the gold will be exported, have a mining lawyer confirm that the product meets the minimum refining standard and that the domestic-supply condition allows it. A buyer that pays in advance brings its own limits, set out in partnering on a gold project. The state’s share that comes off every sale is covered in royalties and taxes on gold mining.