Thailand’s Tongkah Harbour PCL expects to complete the purchase of a tin mine in Indonesia by the middle of this year as it extends capacity, its managing director Ronald Ng told Reuters. The mine in Kalimantan on Borneo island will also yield gold and zircon by-products. It had cash of about 500 million baht ($14 million), enough for it to fund the acquisition of the mine alone, but it would seek overseas corporate partners and sell some of its property in Thailand to free up some cash, Ng said. “We’re working on the acquisition price of the (Indonesian) plant," he said. "We hope to finalise this by the middle of this year.”
Tongkah Harbour was Thailand’s last major tin miner, but ceased its offshore dredging activities in 2005. It is now mainly involved in gold mining and property management. It was considering reactivating its Thai tin interests last year before the slump in prices in the final quarter. Apart from the planned tin investment in Indonesia, it is also now looking at acquiring gold mines in neighbouring countries.
