Malaysia Smelting Corporation hopes to resume small-scale tin mining operations at its 75% owned PT Koba Tin unit in Indonesia as soon as possible. According to the Bernama news agency the planned resumption would contribute about 30% of total production of the operation on Bangka island. Koba has been prohibited from using sub-contractors for small scale mining in its contract of work area since late January, when two companies supplying it were accused of illegal mining in a protected forest area. "We are still talking to the government. We hope it will be resolved soon," group CEO Datuk Mohd Ajib Anuar told reporters on 27 May.
A district court in Bangka began hearing the case against the sub-contractors on 22 May. The prosecutor in the case against two directors of PT Kurnia Bumi Jaya Mandiri alleged that they had deliberately misled Koba about the origin of some of the ore supplied to it. Koba’s refined tin production fell from 20,930 tonnes in 2006 to only 7,724 tonnes last year as a result of restrictions on small-scale mining imposed by the authorities. Since late-January the company has relied on its own mining operations to feed its 2,000 tpm smelter at a much reduced capacity utilisation rate
