Although 10 independent smelters in Indonesia now have operating permits and export licences, they have been slow to re-start operations, according to a Reuters report today.
The smelters have not resumed operations as they are still preparing machinery idle for months after the crackdown by federal police last October, Apik Chakib Rasjidi, chairman of the Association of Indonesia’s Tin Industry, said. Since then all the small plants on Bangka and Belitung islands have been closed and only the major smelters owned by PT Timah and PT Koba Tin have continued to produce tin, the latter at well below its capacity.
"Getting a smelter to operate is not as easy as firing a stove. They need to check everything before operating," Chakib said. Rains have also hampered mining activity on Bangka island, disrupting raw material supply for the smelters, he added.
Several of the private companies made their first shipments of some 600 – 800 tonnes of metal under the new export licencing system the week before last, but all of this is believed to have come out of existing stocks left over from last year.
