Timah eyeing Australian tin mining firm

State-owned tin mining company PT Timah is exploring the possibility of acquiring an Australian tin company as part of its expansion plan, the company?s top executive has said.

PT Timah?s president director Wahid Usman said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the company?s senior executives visited the company?s headquarters in Darwin in the northern Australia last month to discuss the acquisition plan.

?We are quite serious about the acquisition plan,? said but he refused to name the company. He, however, said that the tin company was still in an exploration stage.

In addition to the Australian tin company, PT Timah, which is listed on the Indonesian stock exchange (IDX), said earlier that it planned to acquire tin miners in Myanmar and Vietnam.

The company?s executives said on May 12, 2008 that its research team was finalizing the acquisition plan. (bernard)