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Tin mine firm ready to offer expertise

IPOH: The operator of Malaysia’s oldest and largest open-pit, hard-rock tin mine in Klian Intan, Pengkalan Hulu, Perak, has welcomed the government’s plan to revive the tin mining industry and is willing to share its expertise.

Rahman Hydraulic Tin (RHT) senior general manager Madzlan Zam said the initiative to revive the tin mining industry would return the country back to its glory years as the world’s largest tin producer.

“We are ready to help the government and are open to any idea. We can’t wait to help the government in this matter. We need to become the world’s No. 1.

“As a geologist, I have been involved in this field since 1981. The country has much tin ore that we can extract.”

Madzlan said RHT had been operating for 100 years and the company hired a number of geologists and mining engineers.

“We have the expertise to realise the government’s plan,” he said here yesterday.

Madzlan said strict requirements were needed for industry players who wished to operate tin mining.

“The government needs to allow only eligible companies to carry out mining and not outsource it to agents who will pose problems later.”

Malaysia was the world’s largest tin producer and supplied more than half the world’s tin until the mid-1980s when prices fell. By the late 1980s, more than 300 tin mines had ceased operations.

Madzlan said the state government played a crucial role in realising this plan.

“Perak is rich in tin ore. Those days, due to the collapse of the tin mining industry, miners abandoned mining pools.

“They became oil palm plantations and some developed into small townships.

“It is important to come up with specific approaches as the land falls under the state government’s jurisdiction.”

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar on Wednesday said there were large deposits of tin ore in the country as there had been no large-scale mining for the past 40 years.

He said the price of tin, which could reach up to US$20,000 (RM83,000) per tonne, was “attractive” to industry players and with deposits amounting to millions of tonnes, the sector could again become a money spinner.

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