[Kabar-indonesia] First tin refinery opens in Singapore despite lack of tin deposits

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Business Times Singapore 
Saturday, June 24, 2006

First tin refinery opens here despite lack of tin
deposits

By Melissa Loh

SINGAPORE has opened its first tin refinery and even
though the Republic has no known tin deposits, the new
facility is planning on a substantial output.

Production capacity of Singapore Tin Industries' (STI)
240,000 sq ft tin refinery which opened at Tuas
yesterday ranks it fourth in the world in terms of
potential annual output.

Capacity is estimated to be 36,000 tonnes a year,
approximately 10 per cent of the world's total demand
for refined tin. The plant is starting out by
operating at 50 per cent capacity, producing 1,500
tonnes of refined tin monthly, but STI looks forward
to ramping up to full production by September.
'Singapore's economic and regulatory infrastructure,
as well as its brand name, were critical factors for
us in deciding where to locate the refinery,' said STI
director Petrus Tjandra. He said Singapore was picked
in preference to its tin-mining neighbours, Malaysia
and Indonesia, because it had a quality workforce and
lower fuel prices which would translate into cost
savings.

View S'pore Tin Industries' media release

The refinery, which was established at a cost of more
than $10 million, has been identified by the Economic
Development Board (EDB) as one of the key initiatives
to diversify Singapore's manufacturing base and help
achieve EDB's goal of doubling total manufacturing
output to $300 billion by 2018.

Yunnan Tin Company, which holds a 42 per cent stake in
STI in a joint venture with KJP International, brings
to the partnership its technical know-how of an
advanced refinery method involving the heating and
crystallisation of smelted tin. The output is said to
achieve a purity of 99.9 to 99.99 per cent.

Mr Tjandra is confident that there will be ample
demand for such high-grade refined tin with the trend
towards lead-free tin especially in the food and
electronics industries.

Ninety-five per cent of refined tin produced in the
plant is expected to be exported to main markets in
the US and Europe. The expected first-year turnover
for STI is US$160 million at an output of 20,000
tonnes. When full production is under way, revenues
based on an average price of US$8,000 per tonne on the
London Metal Exchange are expected to reach US$268
million. In order to increase its competitiveness, STI
is partnering PT Bangka Global Mandiri International
to build its own smelting plant in Bangka, Indonesia.

Once the plant is completed in September, STI will
commence production on its second line to bring
refined tin output up to 100 per cent capacity.

STI will be hoping to bag long-term contracts for the
provision of refined tin to local industry players
such as solder product maker Asahi. STI will be able
to offer competitive advantage to local firms as these
companies can enjoy close to zero inventory levels,
with STI providing the space for stocks, according to
Janice Ku, another of STI's directors. Local
businesses in the past mainly dealt with the import
and re-export of tin. Singapore was the main trading
centre for tin in the region and was reportedly the
third-largest buyer of tin from Malaysia in 1988.

On the industrial front however, apart from the brief
mention of two smelting plants apparently in operation
here during the 1970s, Singapore's tin industry has
been overshadowed by that of Malaysia.

Once the world's largest producer of tin, Malaysia's
tin mining industry began in the 1820s with the
arrival of Chinese immigrants in Perak. The industry
reached a peak in the early 1980s, declining following
the collapse of the International Tin Council in 1985.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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