New ruling on tin trade to be launched next month: Official

The government will launch a new ruling on tin export next month, which would ban the export of tin sands in a bid to help curb rampant illegal tin mining activity, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Husin Bagis said Wednesday during a seminar that the government was currently discussing the draft of the ruling with related parties including tin mining companies like PT Timah and PT Kobatin.

The government initially planned to complete the ruling in the middle of this month.

The government has been considering to transform tin into a strategic commodity whose trade must be regulated by the government.

Efforts to curb rampant illegal tin mining had often been ineffective due the lack of supporting legal infrastructure.

The state-owned tin mining company PT Timah had been badly hit by the rampant illegal mining activity in the Bangka and Belitung islands, which might send the company into bankruptcy in the near future unless the illegal mining is curbed. (Godang)