Police activity aimed at halting shipments of tin ore from illegal operations on Indonesia’s Bangka island has been stepped up this week. According to Metal Bulletin, action against ore collectors who act as middlemen between small mines and smelters started on Thursday. “They (police) want to reduce illegal mining. Once these tin collectors are gone, illegal mining will decline,” one Bangka source told MB.
Meanwhile today police blocked a shipment of ore to PT Timah’s Mentok smelter on Bangka due to unspecified problems with documentation. 1,400 tonnes of ore from Belitung island was being unloaded at the smelter’s private jetty when the police intervened. A Timah spokesman told MB and Bloomberg that there were no problems with the legality of the shipment and that the issue should be quickly resolved.
