Producer
PT Timah
Indonesian state-controlled tin mining and smelting company (IDX: TINS); operates on Bangka-Belitung Islands — historically one of the world's largest tin mining regions. World's 5th largest refined tin producer at ~8% global share. Indonesia imposed tin ore export restrictions in 2014-2016 and periodically since, creating supply disruptions. PT Timah is the dominant Indonesian producer; Indonesia's Bangka Island tin deposits are facing grade decline after centuries of mining.
2
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
2
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
2 inputs PT Timah supplies
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Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something PT Timah makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
PT Timah Bangka-Belitung Integrated Operations →
IDBangka-Belitung Islands · mine_and_smelter
Integrated mining and smelting on Bangka-Belitung island; produced 18,915 MT refined tin in 2024 (+23% YoY). PT Timah accounted for ~73% of China's refined tin imports in 2023. 88% of production exported — South Korea 19%, Singapore 18%, Japan 15%, Netherlands 12%. State-owned enterprise; susceptible to Indonesian government RKAB licensing delays.
PT Timah Bangka-Belitung Operations →
IDBangka-Belitung · mining
PT Timah primary tin mining and smelting operations on Bangka Island; produces refined tin ingots for export to London Metal Exchange warehouses. Corruption scandal 2024 involving mining permit allocation caused supply concern.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Tin Mining (Bangka-Belitung Islands)
55%Tin Refining & Smelting (Bangka)
40%Tin Chemicals & Downstream
5%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Refined tin from PT Timah's Bangka-Belitung smelters flows into three structurally separate supply chains: (1) Electronics solder — lead-free solder (SAC: tin-silver-copper, ~96.5% Sn) joins every component on every printed circuit board; every smartphone, laptop, EV battery management system, and server PCB contains Bangka-origin tin in its solder joints; (2) Float glass manufacturing — molten tin metal forms the bath in every float glass line globally; glass poured onto liquid tin produces perfectly flat plate glass (Pilkington process); NSG, AGC, Saint-Gobain, and every other float glass producer continuously consumes and replenishes tin bath metal; (3) Tinplate for food cans — steel cans for food preservation are electroplated with thin tin layer; global tinplate demand ~3 million MT/year. Indonesia's periodic export bans and RKAB quota disruptions affect all three industrial chains simultaneously — an electronics supply chain risk, a glass manufacturing risk, and a food packaging risk from one archipelago.
International Tin Association (ITRI) ↗Origin2023
The mining company name 'Billiton' — now part of BHP Group, the world's largest mining company — traces directly to PT Timah's home island of Belitung, Indonesia. Dutch colonists began tin mining on Bangka Island in 1710 and expanded to Belitung (then Biliton) Island in the 1850s, forming Billiton Maatschappij NV in 1860. After Indonesian independence, President Sukarno nationalized the Dutch tin operations in 1958, creating the state enterprise that eventually became PT Timah. The Dutch company retained the Billiton name, diversified into other mining, eventually merged with Gencor (South Africa) to form Billiton plc in 1997, then merged with BHP to form BHP Billiton in 2001 (renamed BHP in 2017). One of the world's largest diversified mining companies — with operations in iron ore, copper, and coal across six continents — carries the name of a small Indonesian tin island in its corporate lineage.
BHP Group ↗Incident2024
PT Timah executives faced corruption charges in 2024 related to illegal mining permit allocations on Bangka Island. The scandal — Indonesia's largest corruption case — involved permits issued to unlicensed miners who supplied ore to PT Timah smelters. The case temporarily disrupted Indonesian tin exports and caused a ~15% spike in LME tin prices, illustrating how a single producer's governance problems can move global commodity prices for a critical glass input.
Indonesia Business Post ↗Capacity2023
PT Timah's January 2024 production disruption — when Indonesian government RKAB (Rencana Kerja dan Anggaran Biaya) mining quota renewals were delayed — demonstrated how a bureaucratic permitting bottleneck in one Indonesian province can cascade to global tin supply. Indonesia produces ~20-25% of global refined tin; PT Timah is the dominant export source for China (which imports ~73% of its refined tin from Indonesia). The RKAB delay in early 2024 contributed to LME tin prices rising ~30% in the first half of 2024. Unlike most critical mineral supply disruptions driven by geology or geopolitics, the Timah 2024 disruption was caused by a government licensing delay — a regulatory risk in a domestic quota system that has no Western-country analog. PT Timah has faced periodic production halts due to quota disputes, corruption investigations (CEO arrested in 2023 in USD 1.5B tin cartel case), and environmental enforcement actions.
Bloomberg ↗