Source:  ITRI 14 July 2011

Timah reports fall in first half tin sales (13 Jul 2011)    

PT Timah, Indonesia’s premier tin producer reported recently that it sold some 18,000 tonnes of tin during the first two quarters of this year at an average price of $25,000/tonne compared with $19,000/tonne last year. Last year, the state-owned miner sold 19,760 tonnes of tin during the same period.

The company is confident it can reach its target to mine 40,000 tonnes this year because the company is moving mining activities offshore to avoid illegal miners taking its ore.

China issues more export quotas (13 Jul 2011)    

China’s Ministry of Commerce issued the second nonferrous metals export quota for 2011 on 7th July. The export quota for tin products was 7,097 tonnes. The areas and company allocated quotas were Yunnan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangxi and Minmetals Nonferrous company. The local governments will redistribute the quota to the local companies who own export licence.


Chinese companies awarded Huanuni expansion contract (12 Jul 2011)    

A Chinese engineering group was awarded a US$50 million contract to construct a new processing plant next to Bolivia's Huanuni mine to boost production at one of the world's largest tin mines. The companies are Vicstar Union Engineering, a venture formed by China's Shenzhen Vicstar Import & Export Company and Yantai Design and Research Engineering Co. Ltd of Shandong Gold Group. Yantai is into mining engineering and equipment supply mainly in the gold industry, while Vicstar's core business is in packaging and printing equipment. The plant is expected to start its operation within two years with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes of tin ore per day. The new plant will extend the useful life of state-owned mine operator Empresa Minera Huanuni by 25 years.

Currently, ore from the mine is processed at two aged mills with a combined maximum capacity of 1,500 tpd. The new plant is expected to boost output of tin-in-concentrate from some 10,000 tonnes annually to up to 14,000 tpy. It will also support an expansion of capacity at Bolivia’s state-owned Vinto smelter, which currently absorbs most of the ore produced at the mine. However, due to delays in awarding out the contract, the planned increase in mine supply is now running behind the increase in smelting capacity, potentially leaving the smelter short of feed for one or two years.

Indonesian shipments soar (11 Jul 2011)            

Provisional data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade revealed that 10,875 tonnes of tin was checked prior to shipment in June 2011, 35% higher than in June 2010. This was the highest monthly total since March 2009 and the fifth highest ever since the licensing scheme was implemented in February 2007. Cumulative tonnage in the first half of 2011 totalled 50,165 tonnes, up 16% on the first half of 2010.

Decreasing rains in Bangka helped boost supplies of tin ore to smelters and the higher price also helped raise output. May shipment was low, at only 7,013 tonnes because smelters stopped sales due to the sudden drop in prices at that time. The higher export in June reflects the delayed release of stocks held back in May. The growth this year is also due to the increasing small-scale mining activity as tin prices increase.

ITRI and Burundi to co-operate over iTSCi implementation (11 Jul 2011)      

The Ministry of Energy and Mines of the Republic of Burundi and ITRI (on behalf of the iTSCi programme) have announced plans to co-operate in implementing the iTSCi traceability and due diligence initiative. It was earlier implemented in South Kivu in 2010, in the process of implementation in Rwanda since the end of 2010, and the more recent start-up of the scheme in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in late March 2011.

The iTSCi programme aims, in conjunction with local Governments, industry and other stakeholders, to implement traceability, independent risk assessment and independent audit as recommended in the OECD Guidance for developing responsible supply chains from high risk or conflict affected areas.

Motorola announces conflict-free pipe from DR Congo (07 Jul 2011)    

Electronics giant Motorola Solutions has recently launch the “Solutions for Hope” Project, a pilot initiative to source conflict-free tantalum from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be used in its products. It is partnered in the scheme by capacitor producer AVX Corporation.

The program is expected to provide hope to the small artisanal miners and communities who rely on this work to support them and their families. The mine supplying the ore was one of the first to implement the iTSCi traceability system in Katanga in late March. Regular assessments of the circumstances of mining are therefore made by the iTSCi project team. The co-operative operating the site, as well as the exporter and the processor are all provisional members of the iTSCi programme; companies that are currently undergoing complete independent risk assessment for conflict related links.

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