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Govt gives nod to PT Timah on ocean tin mining near Bangka Island
Mining tin under the sea is seen as a lucrative opportunity given many of the land deposits have been widely exploited.
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Natural gift: Tin ore is loaded onto a truck at the PT Timah site in Sungailiat, Bangka Island, in November 2015. (JP/-)
T
he Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has granted a permit to state-owned tin miner PT Timah to mine tin under the sea near Bangka Island, Bangka Belitung Islands, where the company will operate a suction dredger ship to retrieve the mineral.
The permit will come in the form of an approval letter on the suitability of marine spatial utilization (KKPRL), which is one of the basic requirements to acquire a business permit in the sea, based on the 2022 emergency regulation on job creation.
“Businesses looking to make use of the ocean will have to acquire a permit from the central government,” Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said on Wednesday, as quoted from Kompas.com.
Read also: Govt considers banning tin ingot exports, experts unconvinced
PT Timah has mining rights covering 500,000 hectares, but almost 80 percent of the reserves are located under the sea. Ocean mining is seen as a lucrative opportunity, given that many land deposits have been heavily exploited.
Tin is widely used for protective coating for, among other things, steel containers, solder for joining pipes or electrical/electronic circuits or as an alloy with other metals such as lead or zinc, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Wahyu went on to say that the ministry would check various aspects, such as ecosystem sustainability, the scale of the business, environmental impact and carrying capacity, as well as the interests of the country, people and traditional fishermen in the surrounding area.
