PT Timah denies offering too low tin prices

President of publicly listed tin mining company Erry Ryana denied charges that the rampant tin ore smuggling in Bangka Island, South Sumatera was caused by the low prices offered by the company to local miners.

"That is wrong allegation because we had raised our buying prices last week," he said in a response to a statement made by the local mining official.

Erry acknowledged that the low buying prices set by PT Timah might encourage smuggling but he said that it was wrong to blame the tin mining company in the smuggling activities because like it or not the smuggling is a criminal act, which should be eliminated.

PT Timah, which is listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, is still controlled by the government with over 60 percent stake. The company controls the tin mine concessions on Bangka and Belitung islands, South Sumatera but some of its concessions are subcontracted to private companies.

Erry also complained that the lack of the local government's efforts in fighting the tin ore smuggling from the islands, resulting in a great loss to the mining company.

Heru Wahyudi, the head of the provincial office of the Ministry of Mines and Energy in South Sumatera, said that the volume of the tin ore smuggled from the island reached between 50 tons and 200 tons per month.

He said that the rampant smuggling activities were partly caused by the big difference in the prices of the tin ore offered by PT Timah and smugglers, who bough the tin ore in the sea. (*)