The tin racket: how illegal mining devastated Indonesia's tin islands
An investigation into illegal tin mining in Bangka Belitung, tracing illegally mined tin from devastated landscapes into the supply chains of the world’s biggest tech companies.
I reported this investigation with Shabrina at The Gecko Project, co-published with Follow The Money, Finnish broadcaster Yle and KCIJ Newstapa.
The investigation
The Indonesian islands of Bangka and Belitung produce nearly a fifth of the world’s tin — the metal that solders together the circuit boards in virtually every electronic device. They have also been devastated by illegal mining: landscapes pockmarked with abandoned pits, seabeds churned by makeshift dredging pontoons, fisheries smothered in tailings.
The Tin Racket investigated how illegally mined tin moves from these operations into the global supply chain — reaching major technology companies including Apple, Samsung and Tesla.
Reporting on the ground in Bangka Belitung, we interviewed miners, middlemen and employees of PT Timah — the world’s fourth-largest tin producer and Indonesia’s state-owned giant — and analysed documents from one of the largest corruption trials in Indonesian history. Key findings:
- Between 2015 and 2022, PT Timah deliberately sourced illegally mined tin through intermediaries and shell companies — a scheme for which its former president director was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $29 million.
- Despite the convictions, illegal tin was still entering Timah’s supply chain: middlemen we spoke to openly admitted they don’t verify where the ore they buy was mined.
- The audit systems that tech companies rely on — under the Responsible Minerals Initiative — fail to detect the environmental damage and human rights problems in the supply chain, giving brands false assurance.
Impact
The investigation put independent reporting on the ground in a region where the gap between corporate “responsible sourcing” claims and reality is vast, and confronted the world’s biggest electronics brands and the audit industry with evidence that their due diligence systems weren’t working.
It also established a baseline for continuing scrutiny of the sector. The Gecko Project has since reported on Indonesia’s subsequent military-backed crackdown on illegal tin mining, which has seen around $420 million in assets seized and handed to PT Timah — the same company at the centre of the corruption scandal — raising questions about whether the response addresses the systemic problems the investigation exposed or simply consolidates state power.
Behind the story
This investigation paired courtroom evidence with shoe-leather reporting: the corruption trial provided a paper trail showing how laundering illegal tin worked from the inside, while fieldwork showed it was still happening. It was co-published in four countries — with Follow The Money (in English and Dutch), Yle in Finland and KCIJ Newstapa in South Korea — reflecting the global reach of the tin supply chain itself.