In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Johan Murod, director of PT Bangka-Belitung Timah Sejahtera, a consortium of seven private smelters, predicted that tin production from Indonesia’s main tin region could drop to 50,000 tonnes in 2010 as controls on small-scale mining tighten. Among other measures, Indonesia’s new mining laws will restrict the areas in which small mines can operate and only permit the issue of relatively large mining licences.
"Refined tin output from small smelters will decline if their areas are getting smaller because of the new mining law," Murod said. The smelters were said to obtain 80% of their ore supply from small-scale traditional miners. "The new law has discouraged small miners. They are afraid of police crackdowns. There is no legal certainty," Murod said.
