Timah to smelt tin from other producers

State tin miner PT Timah Tbk, the world?s largest integrated tin producer, said on Thursday it was making preparations to smelt tin ore produced by other tin producers including traditional miners.

Company president director Tabrani Alwi said tin ore supply on the domestic market would increase significantly in the coming years due to tin ore export ban introduced by the government on June 1.

?We have to prepare ourselves to process tin ore from other producers,? Tabrani said in a parliamentary hearing.

Tabrani said however Timah?s plant would smelt only tin ore from legal producers.

The tin ore export ban aims to stop rampant illegal mining which had dragged down tin prices on the world market. It is also meant to stop environmental damage on tin producing islands Bangka and Belitung, off eastern Sumatra.

Timah, a publicly listed firm, has the world?s largest tin smelting plant in northwest Bangka which started operation in 1967. (Leo)