Timah surveys population of traditional miners

The state-owned tin mining firm PT Tambang Timah has started to list the population of traditional mining units operating in its mining area in the Bangka Island, the Republika daily reported Friday.

The paper said that the survey started early this month, and hundreds of traditional mining units have been listed. There thousands of illegal mining units are believed to be operating in Bangka Island.

Timah said that the company wanted the traditional mining units, which sell their output to Timah, to be also responsible in protecting the local environment.(*)