ABSTRACT
Indonesia has long been a major producer of minerals for international markets. This chapter quantifies and discusses the growth of mining production in Indonesia since 1870. It analyses the institutional arrangements that past governments used to maximise their share in resource rents. The chapter finds that production and exports of mining commodities were long dominated by oil, and increased and diversified over time, particularly since the 1960s. The development of the mining sector depended on changes in commodity prices, mining technologies and the cost of production, and particularly the institutional arrangements that guided decisions of foreign investors to commit to mining production and processing in Indonesia.
