Update1: Police shuts down Koba Tin?s smelter

(Adds statement from Malaysian Smelting Corporation on fourth and fifth paragraphs)

Police has reportedly shut down the smelter(s) owned by PT Koba Tin, a unit of Malaysian Smelter Corporation on charges that the firm had bought tin ore from illegal miners.

?I heard that the police have shut down the firm?s smelter(s). But, I don?t know the details as I have yet to receive official reports from the firm,? Director of Mineral and Coal Resources at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Mangantar Marpaung said on Tuesday.

Koba Tin is one of Indonesia?s largest tin producers. Last year, the firm was forced to suspend operations for several months following actions by the police to crack down on illegal miners on Bangka and Belitung islands, the country?s main producer of tin.

Malaysia Smelting Corp. confirmed that it had been ordered to stop production.

?According to the local police, this is to facilitate them to carry out investigations following allegations that two of Koba Tin's appointed subcontractors have been mining in a forest area within the company's Contract of Work area and that they had planned to send the tin ore to Koba Tin's warehouse,'? the Malaysian company said in a statement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The firm noted however that Koba Tin's own investigation shows that its subcontractors mine within the company's licensed area and outside the forest. (Godang)