After five months of inactivity, illegal tin mining on the Bangka-Belitung Islands suddenly sprung to life again last October. The incentive to mine tin ore increased when private companies began exporting unprocessed tin.

According to Fenny Widjaja, chairman of the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (ICDX), the export of unprocessed tin exploits a loophole in Trade Ministry Regulation No. 32/2013. The regulation stipulates that exporte