Indonesian mining companies expressed their support for the government’s new regulation to ban exports of some raw materials as part of the country’s plan to boost investment in the sector.

“We are in agreement in implementing the rules of not exporting raw mining materials. We support what the government is planning for this,” Olivier Bolligon, a spokesman for Weda Bay Nickel, said on Monday.

Weda Bay Nickel is 10 percent owned by state-controlled gold miner Aneka Tambang (Antam) and 90 percent by French mining giant Eramet.

Weda Bay Nickel plans to build a smelter plant in Halmahera, Maluku, at an estimated cost of $4.6 billion. Construction of the facility is scheduled to start in 2013 and would be built in cooperation with Mitsubishi of Japan and Antam, Bolligon said.

He said the company would export processed commodities, like processed nickel used in the making of stainless steel.

Before the government’s announcement, Antam, a publicly traded company, had planned to build a series of smelters in addition to its Weda Bay Nickel project, according to Alwinsyah Loebis, the company’s president director.

Antam is also cooperating with state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara and plans to start construction on a $1.6 billion integrated ferronickel smelter and power plant project this year in Tanjung Buli, also in Halmahera.

Alwinsyah said the smelter, which will be Antam’s second, is expected to have a capacity of 27,000 tons per year. Construction on the smelter is expected to start in November and is scheduled for completion by 2014.

Meanwhile, state-controlled tin miner Timah has been processing its raw minerals since 1976. It also built a smelter to make tin solder in 2008 and has since been selling the resulting products to South Korea and Japan.

“We have been obliged to process our raw material domestically since 1976,” Abrun Abubakar, Timah’s corporate secretary, said on Monday.

“By selling finished products, we can add more revenue for our company,” he added, without elaborating on the figures.

Timah is also building a plant in Cilegon, Banten, that will make tin-based chemicals used in products like LCD screens, with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons.

Abrun said it planned to sell the finished product to companies that make electronic goods in Japan and China.

Priyo Pribadi Sumarno, an independent mining analyst, said the ban would boost miners’ revenues because processed minerals were used more in the manufacture of high-end electronics.

“I am sure that the miners will not object to this plan. It will also give them more revenue than just by exporting ore,” he said. “The products are usually used for electronic products. And the demand is there as long as world economic growth is growing.”

The proposed regulation, which would come into effect in 2014, would order all miners to process raw commodities, ranging from precious metals like gold to base metals like tin, before being shipped overseas.

That would force companies to build smelters and processing facilities, Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for economic affairs, said on Friday.

Some of the world’s biggest miners operate in Indonesia, including Freeport McMoRan in Papua and BHP Billiton in parts of Kalimantan.