PT Timah sticks to 2002 output target

PT Timah sticks to 2002 output target

KUNMING, CHINA: PT Timah Tbk, the world's biggest integrated tin firm, said on Tuesday it was sticking to its earlier target of producing less tin in 2002 even though global prices staged a recent recovery.

"If we get concentrates from small-scale mines then we can increase our production, but in my plan it (output) is around 34,000 tones, the same as before," Thobrani Alwi, Timah's President Director, told Reuters in an interview.

Timah produced 38,081 tones of tin last year.

Alwi said he expected Indonesia's tin output to hit about 50,000 tones this year, with the bulk of production coming from Timah and PT Koba, another major Indonesian tin producer.

Alwi shrugged off the market's concerns that Indonesia's proposed tin ore export ban could spark smuggling in the region.

Indonesia has said it would bring forward a ban on tin ore exports to June 1 from June 15, as it strives to halt rampant illegal mining that has ravaged the environment across the archipelago and pressured prices through increased supply.

Global tin prices have wallowed at historic lows over the past year but bounced back to five-month highs in early May. LME three-month tin closed Monday's kerb session down US$30 at $4,120 and was range-bound at about $4,130 in later inter-office trade. --Reuters