IT has been three months since the tin smelting furnace at Refined Bangka Tin (RBT) stopped running. The furnace is now cold because it is no longer fired up to smelt tin brought in by collectors. “It’s completely stopped,” Baitul, a security officer at RBT, told Tempo when we met at the factory site on Jl. Kawasan Industri Jelitik, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung, Wednesday, March 6.

RBT’s operations in Bangka were