Indonesia to ban tin ore exports from June 15
Friday, May 3 2002 - 02:30 AM WIB
Thousands of residents of the two islands are illegal tin miners. Tin in concentrates from illegal sources in Indonesia are estimated to total around 40,000 metric tons, close to the annual production of the world's largest integrated tin producer, PT Tambang Timah.
According to Rini, the islands' governments plan a tin smelting business for their residents as a new way to earn money.
"The mayors of Bangka and Belitung asked for more time because investors are not ready to build tin smelters," Rini told reporters.
The local governments have planned to establish small-scale tin smelters on the islands so local residents will be able to export smelted tin, instead of in the unprocessed form of tin ores.
Rini didn't say who the investors are.
Timah said Wednesday it would be better for the tin industry that the ban be imposed this month and doesn't agree with the idea of having new tin smelters.
If the ban isn't in place this month, "it will affect the industry, because we can't control the supply to the world market," PT Tambang Timah's spokesman Prasetyo Saksono said.
"It is better that current smelters could run at full capacity," before founding new ones, he added.
Tin industry participants and analysts view the ban as a necessity to boost world tin prices, as it would control tin supplies into the world tin market.
Timah has been the most affected producer by illegal tin mining. The company's 2001 net profit fell 89 percent on year due to steep falls in tin prices resulting from oversupply by illegal miners.
Its current capacity utilization is around 70 percent of its full capacity of 50,000 metric tons a year. (*)