A Chinese engineering group has been awarded a US$50 million contract to build a new processing plant next to Bolivia’s Huanuni mine as the country seeks to expand production at one of the world’s largest tin mines, Dow Jones reported. 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, will build the new plant near the Huanuni mine, Bolivia’s mining ministry said in a statement. Yantai is involved in mining engineering and equipment supply mainly in the gold industry, while Vicstar’s core business has been in packaging and printing equipment.
The plant is expected to come online within two years, with a capacity of 3,000 tonne of tin ore per day. The new plant will extend the useful life of state-owned mine operator Empresa Minera Huanuni by 25 years, the ministry said.
Ore from the mine is currently processed at two old and inefficient mills with a combined maximum capacity of 1,500 tpd. The project could boost output of tin-in-concentrate from just under 10,000 tonnes annually to 13 – 14,000 tpy, supporting an expansion of capacity at Bolivia’s state-owned Vinto smelter, which currently receives most of the ore produced at the mine. However after many delays in awarding the Huanuni contract, the planned increase in mine supply is now running well behind the increase in smelting capacity, potentially leaving the smelter short of feed for one or two years.
