PT Timah to focus on offshore mining operations

State owned tin mining company PT Timah will operate in December a dredging ship with new technology as part of the company?s program to focus on offshore mining operations, Kontan reported on Saturday.

The new dredging ship which uses the bucket wheel dredger (BWD) technology will be used to mine tin ores in the Kundur water off Riau islands.

The BWD ship which was made from the modification of the Kundur I dredging ship, had the capability to carry out mining operations to the depth of 70 meters. The new dredger has the capacity to excavate up to 3.5 million cubic meters of material a month.

PT Tin?s corporate secretary Agung Nugroho said in Jakarta on Friday that the BWD dredging would begin its trial operation in early December.

PT Tin has so far operated 13 dredging ships around Bangka Belitung and Riau Islands.

Agung said that if the operation of the BWD ship could significantly improve mining efficiency, the company would modify two more dredgers into BWD ships next year.

PT Timah is expected to produce between 29,000 tons and 30,000 tons of tin this year. The company has earlier said that the company has no plan to increase production next year in order to reduce oversupply in the world tin market. (*)