Timah says new smelter study completed in a month

State tin miner PT. Timah Tbk said it expected feasibility study on new tin smelter could be completed in a month?s time and hoped to immediately commence construction if the FS result is favorable.

?The plan is to build two furnaces with smelting capacity of 7,000 tons per annum each,? said Timah director Wachid Usman late Tuesday. He said the smelter will be built in Kundur Island, Riau province.

Wachid said that the company is still in talk about joint venture possibility to operate the smelter with Malaysian Smelting Corporation Berhad (MSC), which is also the 75 percent shareholder of Koba Tin, Bangka Island-based tin producer.

Wachid said the smelter would use tin concentrate from Indonesia as well as from abroad.

A source said if the smelter could be brought into operations within a year?s time.

Timah is the world?s largest tin producer with production capacity of around 48,000 tons per annum.(godang)