China Tin is expecting to complete an initial public offering of its shares on the Shanghai stock market by the end of July. The company lodged its prospectus with the China securities regulatory commission in April and is now waiting for final approval to proceed with the listing.
Guangxi-based China Tin is the second largest tin producer in China and the sixth in the world. The company’s refined tin production and mine production in 2011 was 15,517 tonnes and 10,947 tonnes respectively according to the prospectus. It also reported that its average refined tin production cost was RMB 82,364 yuan/tonne in 2010 (approximately US$12,800/tonne). No cost figures were given for 2011 and it should be noted that China Tin’s net production cost is heavily influenced by co-product revenues.
China Tin has two tin mines — Tongkeng and Gaofeng, with the former accounting for about two-thirds of its total mine output. As at end-December 2011, ore reserves at Tongkeng were 36.282 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.59% Sn, giving 215,329 tonnes of contained tin. The Tongkeng mine is also a major zinc producer. The ore reserve at Gaofeng is 3.738 million tonnes at 1.16% Sn (43,495 tonnes contained metal), but the rich multi-metal mine also has large reserves of zinc, lead, antimony and indium.
The company will use the funds raised by the IPO to increase the exploration and development of the mines and the addition of a new Ausmelt furnace at its smelter. The tin smelting capacity of the company will rise to 17,500 tpy after its Ausmelt system is put into production.
