Canadian tin explorer T1N Mining Corp, formerly Mogul Ventures, has announced it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with MCC Shenkan Qinhuangdao, a subsidiary of China Minmetals Corporation, for the development of the Oorsog Ovoo tin-polymetallic project in Mongolia.
T1N Mining Corp will contribute its mining licence covering the Oortsog Ovoo project and available coal resources retained from the Uvdug Khudag coal deposit. MCC Shenkan will cover all project costs through to commercial production for development of a 600 ktpa throughput mine and plant at the project.
Construction is expected to take two years.
T1N Mining will be responsible for securing all necessary permits and will handle government affairs and public relations within Mongolia.
MCC Shenkan is committing to limits of maximum capital and operating expenditures for the first two years of full production at the site, in return receiving 80% of the net revenues after marketing fees, royalties, and taxes.
After MCC Shenkan recovers its capital investment, the two companies will have a 50% stake in the project.
Oortsog Ovoo has a historic resource of 47,000 tonnes contained tin at a grade of 0.65% Sn within 24 orebodies in a near-surface cassiterite-magnetite skarn. The deposit is amenable to open pit mining across five pits to a maximum depth of 150 metres.
In recent years, the project owners have undertaken metallurgical testwork and have demonstrated successful production of a 58% tin concentrate and a 63% magnetite concentrate.
Additionally, there has been testwork demonstrating the potential for high recovery into stannous chloride, a valuable tin chemical product intermediate that can be either sold or further processed into tin metal.
Our view: ITA is happy to see the Oortsog Ovoo tin project advancing towards production, a project with the potential to produce an estimated 2,700 tonnes of tin per year and become Mongolia’s first significant tin producer. The news comes within a week of Atlantic Tin’s announcement of a takeover by a Chinese tin producer, highlighting the increasing influence of Chinese companies in tin future supply.
