No talk yet to help ailing Timah: Official

No talk yet to help ailing Timah: Official

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has yet to hold talks on how to curb rampant,
illegal tin mining to prevent the state-owned tin company PT
Timah from declaring bankruptcy, according to a senior official.

Director general of foreign trade at the office of the
minister of trade and industry Riyanto B. Yosokusumo said on
Friday that relevant information about the issue had yet to be
gathered.

"Besides, it requires cooperation from other authorities such
as the ministry of energy and mineral resources and the regional
governments to enact such a discussion," he told The Jakarta
Post.

Riyanto said the talks on this issue might only start after
the celebration of the Idul Fitri next week.

Minister of Trade and Industry Rini Soewandi on Thursday said
the government had prepared a new regulation to supervise the tin
trade, a move which, in principle, should help curb illegal tin
mining.

Rini expected her office to be able to finalize the new
regulation within one or two days.

Under the new regulation, Rini said, the government planned to
centralize tin export mechanisms, which is currently handled by
regional administrations.

Under the regulation, the central government would also ban
the export of tin concentrate and allow only tin metals exports,
a move that may bring an end to the activities of illegal miners
particularly in the Bangka and Belitung islands -- located in
South Sumatra province -- which only produce concentrates.
Timah's vast mining sites are located on the islands.

Timah has blamed illegal miners for causing a drop in the
world tin price, which caused its profit to fall by 92 percent to
Rp 25 billion (US$2.4 million) in the first nine months of 2001,
down from Rp 296 billion in the same period last year.

Timah has suspended some of its production units and planned
to cut 3,750 jobs due to the poor profits.

Timah president Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas has said that if
this condition continues, the company will go bankrupt.