tin ...stockpiles got smashed tonite, page-2

Indonesia`s government will set a tin production quota of 100,000t/y starting in 2009 in a bid to reduce environmental damage in the main tin-mining areas, a senior mining official said.
Details on production would be decided by the local government, said M.S. Marpaung, director of coal and minerals at the mines and energy ministry.
"The decree may take effect in 2009 because some of the production plans are already in progress," Mr Marpaung said.
Indonesia, the world`s second-largest tin producer after China, exported 118,555t for the whole of 2006, according to the state statistics agency, but some analysts say the figure was probably much higher because of smuggling and overproduction by small, independent smelters.
Exports of refined tin from February. 23, 2007, when the government applied new tin export rules, to the end of December 2007, were estimated at 86,304.52t.
Mr Marpaung said the latest move was aimed at protecting the environment around the mines. "We cannot only prioritise production increases," he said.
Centuries of tin mining in the Bangka-Belitung islands, off the coast of Sumatra, have damaged the environment, prompting the government to ban exports of tin ore in 2002.
As a result, several small smelters sprung up on the island, and production of refined tin soared, leading to a drop in prices.
But a government crackdown on illegal tin mining in the islands since late 2006 has led to the closure of several of these small smelters, and has helped to push up the tin price.