The head of Indonesia’s second-biggest tin producer, PT Koba Tin, has been detained for alleged illegal mining, the prosecutors office on the tin-producing islands of Bangka-Belitung told Reuters on Tuesday. Kamardin Md Top, the President Director of Koba Tin, has been detained since Monday for mining in a protected forest area, and is being held at Bukit Semut prison on Bangka island for further investigation, Eko Susilo Hadi, a deputy at the Bangka-Belitung prosecutors office, told reporters. However a Koba spokesman said that the detention has had no impact on the company’s operations. Meanwhile 75% owners Malaysia Smelting Corporation issued a statement pointing out that no charges against Koba have yet been made and that investigations by the prosecutor relate to the a dredge that ceased to operate in 2002, shortly after it acquired its stake.
"The production process, shipments, and exports are not affected by the detention of the president director of PT Koba Tin," Koba Tin director Darmansyah Nawawi told Reuters. "That means all things are running as planned and approved by the government". The company plans to produce and export some 10,000 tonnes of refined tin in 2009 and exported 650 tonnes in January.
Koba’s old Merapin dredge operated near Lubuk Besar from the late 1980s to October 2002, when it was shut down due to reserve exhaustion, shortly after MSC acquired its majority share in the company from Australia’s Iluka Resources. The area was officially declared to be a protected forest area two years later in 2004. In a statement to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange today MSC said that its Board “wishes to emphasise that the matter is still under public prosecutors’ consideration and that they have up to two months to decide on whether the matter would be taken to court. To-date no charge has been made or proffered on PT Koba Tin. The management of PT Koba Tin will continue to cooperate with the Indonesian authorities on this matter and is confident that the case will be resolved.”
