PT Timah set to begin Myanmar tin ore exploration in June

PT Timah is set to begin tin ore exploration in Myanmar in June, marking the start of the company’s expansion in the Southeast Asian country.

Mr Sukrisno president director of Timah said that “The company was close to obtaining its mining site recommendation. We have already obtained forestry and agriculture related recommendations. Hopefully we will secure the site recommendation this month, so that we can begin the exploration in June.”

Mr Sukrisno said that the exploration process was expected to take 6 months and Timah was scheduled to enter the production stage in early 2015. Timah had also submitted additional mining applications in other areas of Myanmar and was hoping to obtain the permits this year.

He said that Timah will begin constructing a smelter in Myanmar in 2014 as well, with an investment of IDR 150 billion. Timah will use its internal funds to finance the construction. The smelter construction will run concurrently with the exploration. Besides processing our tin ore in the future, the smelter will also be used to process ore from local mines.

Meanwhile, Mr Sukrisno said that Timah would focus on upgrading its existing equipment and expanding the shipyard, which is operated by subsidiary PT Dok & Perkapalan Air Kantung, as part of its business plan in 2014. The company has allocated about IDR 1.4 trillion for capital expenditure.

The company has set its production target at 28,000 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes in 2014 around the same level that was reached last year. However, Timah is optimistic that it will book higher revenues backed by an improving average selling price.

Following the implementation of a trade ministerial regulation, which stipulates that tin exports must go through the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, Timah has seen its ASP climb to USD 23,000 per metric tonne from the previous USD 19,000 per tonne.