PUTRAJAYA: The government is planning to revive the tin mining industry in Malaysia back to its golden age, as achieved decades ago when it was the largest tin producer in the world.
Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar said the deposits of tin in the country were huge as there has been no large scale mining of the ore for the past 40 years.
He said the price of tin, which could reach up to USD$20,000/tonne today, was very "attractive" to the industry players and with deposits amounting to millions of tonnes, the sector could again become a money spinner.
“And because of that, there is more interest in tin. Our Department of Lands and Mines has mapped the whole country identifying areas with huge tin deposits. Because of this, industry players are now interested to come back.
“We have discussed this in the Cabinet and decided to go into tin mining again and give opportunities to interested parties to go ahead with the mining of tin,” he told reporters at a media conference in conjunction with Pakatan Harapan’s first year in government last Monday.
According to Xavier, the tin mining industry has not been completely halted and currently there was only one company - Rahman Hydraulic Sdn Bhd in Perak - is still mining the ore on a large scale.
Meanwhile, on bauxite, he said preparation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to mine and export the bauxite will pave the way towards a better and sustainable mining activity with minimum impact on local inhabitants.
“Bauxite issues have been discussed at the state level. We (federal government) came up with the SOP together with (Pahang) state agency...and therefore, we want to make sure that the SOP is adhered to ensure success of this industry.” he said.
Xavier added that the government remained committed in ensuring that the bauxite mining activity was developed sustainably without negatively impacting the environment. - Bernama