approved delivery of all LME-traded
metals (except copper), including tin.
Although Pittsburgh was chosen as the
locale, specific warehouse facilities there
still needed to be chosen, inspected, and
approved. Pittsburgh was the 10th U.S.
location for LME-approved deliveries. In
addition to tin, the warehouse was able to
handle aluminum, lead, nickel, and zinc.
Foreign Trade
For the second consecutive year,
Brazil was the major source of U.S. tin
metal imports. Bolivia ranked second,
followed by Indonesia, China, and Hong
Kong (apparently a transhipper).
Imports  increased  substantially,
perhaps in response to lower Government
stockpile disposals.
Imports of tin in all forms (ore and
concentrate, metal, and waste and scrap)
remained free of U.S. duty. (See tabks
5, 6, and 7.)
World Review
Australia.-The first stage of the
Emmaville tin project in New South
Wales was completed with the
commissioning of the first of two tin
concentration plants. Associated Gold
Fields Ltd. and Q International Resources
Ltd. each own 25% of the property, with
the privately held New South Wales firm,
Transit Mining  Ltd.,  holding  the
remaining 50%. The project is now
rp-qdv Min nter its -npst nhacp. with the.


IVU LW  U Qwe10 AireWLLQLI Puna WeL Ad1r
construction  of  a  second,  larger
concentrator at the mine. The projected
facility, with a total capacity of 100 cubic
meters (m3) per hour, was expected to
be operational by mid-1994. Once
completed, the plant could produce about
130 tons of concentrates monthly
compared with current output of about 20
tons monthly.  Indicated reserves are
500,000 m3, with 4 kilograms of tin per
m3. At full capacity, the project was
expected to have a life of 3 years. The
joint-venture partners partly lease and
partly own the smaller concentrator but
will fully own the second one.
Concentrates were being sold to
Aalaysian smelters on a trail basis, with


average grades of 70% tin.
Renison Consolidated Goldfields Ltd.
announced that it was considering
developing additional tin prospects at its
underground mine in Tasmania. A new
deposit, Rendeep, was identified below
existing workings, and a feasibility study
was commissioned with a yearend
completion date.  A 600-meter shaft
would be needed to access the new
prospect.
Belgium.-One of the few remaining
European   tin  smelters,  Metallo-
Chimique, in Beerse, announced plans to
increase production in 1993 to about
6,600 tons of refined tin from 5,000 tons
in 1992. The firm also produces lead and
copper from scrap sources around the
world. Its total scrap consumption is
estimated to be about 17,000 tons
monthly.
Bolivia. -The executive director of the
Government-owned mining organization,
COMIBOL, announced that all but one of
COMIBOL's mines may cease production
soon. He attributed low metal prices for
the organization's continued heavy losses.
Some of the targeted mines were tin
mines. The Colquiri Mine, a tin-zinc
mine, may be one of them. COMIBOL
intended to send invitations to tender for
the construction of a new treatment plant
at Colquiri to produce tin oxide. One tin
mine that COMIBOL foreshadowed to
remain open was the Huanuni Mine,
which produces high-grade tin ore for the
Vinto tin smelter.
The Government-owned smelting
organization, Empresa Nacional de
Fundiciones (ENAF), announced that it
expected to produce about 19,000 tons of
tin metal in 1993, including 4,000 tons
for Peru's Minsur tin mine under a toll
contract. The tin smelter at Vinto had
raised production steadily since 1987,
when output was only 2,600 tons out of a
capacity of 25,000 tons. The smelter
produces two grades of tin metal: A-I,
which grades 99.5% tin and comprised
40% of output; and A-2, which graded
99.99%  tin and comprised 60%   of
output. ENAF announced that the


smelter's entire output had low lead
content. About 70% of ENAF's output
was exported to the United States, while
another 20 % remained in South America.
The Bolivian Supreme Court
authorized the Bolivian Government to
evict tin miners who had been occupying
the Catavi tin mine. This paved the way
for the Brazilian tin mining organization,
Paranapanema, to begin working tin
tailings at Catavi, which it had been
leasing from COMIBOL since June 1992.
The unlawful occupation of the mine had
caused Paranapanema to suspend its
operations for about 18 months.
Paranapanema agreed to pay COMIBOL
a 5 % production royalty pegged to
international tin prices.  It reportedly
planned to invest $8 million in the project
and expected to construct a concentrator
by mid-1995.
It was announced that Japan's Metal
Mining Agency would continue drilling
operations in 1993-94 in the Alto Colquiri
area of Bolivia. Large reserves of lead,
silver, tin, and zinc reportedly were
confirmed there. The Japanese agency
began undertaking geological and physical
studies of the Colquiri area in 1991 as
part of Japan's assistance program to
Bolivia. Recent exploration excavation
confirmed the existence of about 500,000
tons of ore containing 0.7% tin, 3.38%
zinc, and 0.7% lead. In addition, an
estimated 190,000 tons of reserves
containing 0.5% tin, 1.12% zinc, and
0.14% lead was discovered as pits were
dug deeper, and large veins believed to
have a high content of tin and zinc were
found. The drilling site was adjacent to
the Colquiri Mine, owned by Bolivia's
state-operated Corporacfon Minera de
Bolivia (COMIBOL), whose reserves
could be exhausted in less than 10 years.
Bazil.-The recently privatized Cia.
Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), the
country's  largest  steel  producer,
announced plans to invest $20 million to
begin making thinner gauge tinplate. The
aim was to better compete with a local
aluminum smelter that supplied a
Reynolds Aluminum plant here; the latter
reportedly controlled 100% of the
domestic beverage can market. CSN,


r4-1993








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