No talk yet to help ailing Timah: Official<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government has yet to hold talks on how to curb rampant,
\nillegal tin mining to prevent the state-owned tin company PT
\nTimah from declaring bankruptcy, according to a senior official.<\/p>\n
Director general of foreign trade at the office of the
\nminister of trade and industry Riyanto B. Yosokusumo said on
\nFriday that relevant information about the issue had yet to be
\ngathered.<\/p>\n
\"Besides, it requires cooperation from other authorities such
\nas the ministry of energy and mineral resources and the regional
\ngovernments to enact such a discussion,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Riyanto said the talks on this issue might only start after
\nthe celebration of the Idul Fitri next week.<\/p>\n
Minister of Trade and Industry Rini Soewandi on Thursday said
\nthe government had prepared a new regulation to supervise the tin
\ntrade, a move which, in principle, should help curb illegal tin
\nmining.<\/p>\n
Rini expected her office to be able to finalize the new
\nregulation within one or two days.<\/p>\n
Under the new regulation, Rini said, the government planned to
\ncentralize tin export mechanisms, which is currently handled by
\nregional administrations.<\/p>\n
Under the regulation, the central government would also ban
\nthe export of tin concentrate and allow only tin metals exports,
\na move that may bring an end to the activities of illegal miners
\nparticularly in the Bangka and Belitung islands -- located in
\nSouth Sumatra province -- which only produce concentrates.
\nTimah's vast mining sites are located on the islands.<\/p>\n
Timah has blamed illegal miners for causing a drop in the
\nworld tin price, which caused its profit to fall by 92 percent to
\nRp 25 billion (US$2.4 million) in the first nine months of 2001,
\ndown from Rp 296 billion in the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Timah has suspended some of its production units and planned
\nto cut 3,750 jobs due to the poor profits.<\/p>\n
Timah president Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas has said that if
\nthis condition continues, the company will go bankrupt.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-talk-yet-to-help-ailing-timah-official-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}