Ministry completes tin smelter audit

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has completed the audit of 33 tin smelters in key producing province of Bangka Belitung, as part of efforts to help resolve the alleged massive illegal export of the commodity, Bisnis Indonesia reported Monday.

The paper quoted ministry Spokesman Sujatmiko as saying that before the ministry?s Inspectorate General announces the audit result, the ministry will first verify the result with export data at the Ministry of Trade.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Tin Exporters Association (AETI) Jabin Sufianto estimated that illegal shipment of tin ores by companies which do not have export permit in 2015 reached 19.5 million tons, much higher than the official export data of 70,000 tons at the Ministry of Trade.

He said that illegal tin exporters shipped the commodity to smelters in Malaysia, Thailand, and China.

He was quoted by Investor Daily as lamenting the tin smelter audit made by the ministry as it focuses only on tin smelters which posses export permit. (*)