March 15 -- Indonesia's Koba Tin began loading a 280-tonne shipment on Wednesday, after demonstrators blocked the producer's exports earlier this week due to a pay dispute, a company official said.

Protestors had blocked tin ingots belonging to the unlisted Koba Tin from leaving the firm's site at Kota Koba in Indonesia's main tin producing region of Bangka island, due to a dispute over payments to contractors, an official said on Tuesday.

"Koba Tin has informed us that the tin ingots are being trucked to the port and will be loaded onto the ship today," Chan Yaw Phang, corporate and investor relations manager at Malaysia Smelting Corporation, said in an email.

"The ship is scheduled to leave the port either tonight or tomorrow morning." He was unable to give any further details.

Koba Tin is a joint venture between Malaysia Smelting Corporation and Indonesia's PT Timah.

The firm's tin operations, which includes the exploration, mining, processing, and smelting of tin, covers an area of 41,680 hectares in the southeastern part of Bangka. (Reporting by Michael Taylor; Editing by Himani Sarkar)