Indonesia’s PT Timah aims to produce up to 60,000 tpy of tin by 2009, based on increased investment in offshore mining, the company’s President Director Wahid Usman told Bloomberg on Friday. Timah may sell 56,000 tonnes of tin this year, Usman said, higher than previous estimates.
Timah plans to spend $30 million in the next two years to dredge for tin at greater depths, Usman said. This could reduce its reliance on the small mining companies that provide 70 percent of its onshore supply. Timah will work with Netherlands-based IHC Holland Merwede BV to dredge at depths of more than 50 meters, Usman said. The Indonesian company already has 14 dredgers that operate in depths up to 50 meters.
Supply from offshore dredging may be 20,000 tonnes by 2009, while as much as 40,000 tonnes will be mined on land, he said. Last year Timah produced 10, 836 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate from its offshore operations, compared to 41,011 tonnes from inland mining activities.
