Gov?t to ban tin ore export early June

Government said on Friday it would bring a ban of tin ore exports forward to June 1 from an earlier announced June 15.

The ban is aimed at stopping rampant illegal mining that has caused environmental damage and been a negative factor for tin prices by increasing supply.

"The government has decided today that the ban on the export of tin ore will go into effect on June 1, 2002," the trade ministry's Director-General of International Trade Sudar S.A. told reporters.

"It is brought forward to prevent further damage on the environment due to uncontrollable illegal mining activities."

The ban had originally been set for April 1 but had been delayed to June 15 because of unprepared infrastructure in a producing region, the government said earlier.

Indonesia's tin sector has been badly hit by illegal mining as shown by a sharp fall in 2001 net profit at state-owned PT Timah Tbk , the world's largest integrated tin maker.

Industry sources have said the ban would help reduce tin supplies in the world market and support prices.

Tin ore from illegal mining in Indonesia's main areas of Bangka and Belitung islands off Sumatra has been sold to smelters elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

The rampant illegal mining has been blamed for environmental destruction as miners dig to find ore but have no obligation to rehabilitate the ground.

Illegal mining worsened throughout the sprawling archipelago when workers were laid off during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, and coincided with a breakdown in law and order in parts of the country.(*)