Top Indonesian tin officials in both the federal and Bangka-Belitung provincial governments have described plans to limit tin supply in interviews with Bloomberg News.
The federal government plans to cap production of five minerals including tin to extend mine life and try to control prices. The government will cap output of tin at 90,000 tonnes a year from this year, Bambang Setiawan, director general of coal and mineral resources, said in an interview in Pangkalpinang. The government also plans to cap the output of copper, gold, nickel and iron ore, he said, without giving details.
“The main reason is to prevent over-extraction and to keep prices in the global market from declining”, Setiawan said today from the sidelines of a tin mining conference. “If there’s too much supply prices will fall.”
Meanwhile the governor of Bangka-Belitung has called a halt on the issue of export licences. “It is useless to produce more if prices fall,” Eko Maulana Ali said yesterday. The trade ministry asked him in a letter last month not to back the issue of any more permits, Ali said. Indonesia, the world’s largest tin shipper, has required exporters to hold licenses since February 2007 to better regulate the industry and prevent illegal mining. It has awarded 19 export licenses so far, including to PT Timah and PT Koba Tin. The permits are issued by the trade ministry and require a recommendation from the provincial government.
The province “will not give any more tin-export license recommendations,” the governor said. “We want to extend the mine life, as we want to prepare the residents for other sectors than mining.”
