London 24/08/2016 - Refined Bangka Tin (RBT) has restarted production under new management some six months after Indonesia's largest independent tin smelter was shuttered due to internal factors, sources told FastMarkets.
Owner Robert Bono will lead the new operation, which is likely to resume production at the same level as before the closure, those sources added.
"RBT is back," a smelting source in Indonesia said on Wednesday.
RBT, which had an export permit to produce 12,000 tonnes of refined 99.9-percent and 99.99-percent-purity tin this year, declined to comment when contacted by FastMarkets.
The company said it would close in February, with shareholder Tomy Winata stating that environmental reasons were the main factor. But the company stopped producing due to an internal disagreement among its owners, FastMarkets sources continue to claim.
"Within RBT itself there was a group fighting to keep it open and another to close," a tin trader said, commenting on the closure.
Since then the company has released large volumes of metal into the market, much of which ended up on the London Metal Exchange after deliveries into Singapore sheds, contributing to a collapse in tin premiums there.
Premiums for 99.9-percent-purity Indonesian standard grade tin ingots are currently at $50-80 per tonne in-warehouse Singapore.
Formerly a registered LME brand for tin, RBT brand ingots were delisted in March.
News of the restart has come as a shock to some in the tin market who had not expected RBT's return. It is not known whether the company's export permits/clean and clear licenses will be continued or if the company faces multiple bureaucratic hurdles to return to the market again.
LME three-month tin prices hit February 2015 highs of $18,700 per tonne on Tuesday on market supply concerns.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)