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.