Indonesia’s PT Timah is assessing the work of independent miners that operate in its concessions to ensure adequate ore supplies, a spokesman told Bloomberg. Timah will survey 1,300 small miners and request they re-apply for permits that include an output target and a designated mining area, Corporate Secretary Agung Nugroho said. The assessment lasts three months from today, he said.
“We will mandate them to sell ores only to Timah, because we’ve learned that they are also selling output to other smelters or middlemen,” Nugroho said. “Supplies may be affected during the assessment, but we can compensate with ores from our offshore mines. When this is finished, we will have more supplies from the miners; that’s the objective,” he said.
Small scale mines have accounted for more than 95% of the company’s inland mine production, which amounted to 19,135 tonnes in 2011. Total mine production last year, including offshore dredging, amounted to 37,486 tonnes. The company’s 2012 target is to exceed this, with inland mines projected to provide about 40% of the total. The new initiative is in line with the new Mining Law of 2009 which requires all companies to take full control of their mining activities.
