Indonesia's Timah Sees Tin Prices Rising over 20 pct

JAKARTA, Feb 3 -- Indonesia's PT Timah (TINS.JK: Quote), the world's largest integrated tin miner, expects tin prices this year to climb over 20 percent to reach $20,000 a tonne as demand recovers, its president director said on Wednesday.

The miner also expects sales of refined tin to edge up to 50,000 tonnes this year, from around 49,000 tonnes estimated for 2009, Wachid Usman said.

"We see the market situation is improving this year as demand is picking up," Usman told reporters.

Tin for three month delivery CMSN3 on the London Metal Exchange settled at $16,450 a tonne on Tuesday, down about 3 percent so far this year.

Prices for the metal, widely used in food packaging and for soldering electronic products, gained around 58 percent in 2009.

Usman said the firm is in a due diligence process for coal mines in Kalimantan in Indonesia's Borneo island, as it looks for acquisitions.

"We seek coal mines with reserves at about 50 million tonnes," he said. The firm has been seeking to buy new coal mines due to falling reserves.

The firm is currently producing between 1-1.5 million tonnes of coal a year but reserves are expected to run out within the next three years.