Minsur’s Q1 consolidated results reveal that its Brazilian subsidiary, Taboca, saw a 20% year-on-year increase in Q1 tin production from its Pitinga mine to 1,585 tonnes in 2015. This brings Minsur’s total tin production in Q1 to 5,883 tonnes.
The increase in tin production at Pitinga corresponds with a 9% higher volume of ore processed in the quarter to 1,514,927 tonnes due to operational improvements. Head grades remained at 0.2% Sn and 0.25% NbTa.
The cash cost per tonne of treated ore at Pitinga fell 9% from Q1 2014 to Q1 2015 to 17.2 US$/tonne. This reduction in cost was due to devaluation of the Brazilian Real, a higher volume of ore treated and improvements in productivity. The net of by-product credit cash cost fell by 30% over the same period to US$14,341 per tonne of tin, due again to the devaluation of the Brazilian Real and an increase in the production of NbTa alloy from 584 tonnes to 679 tonnes.
Minsur CEO, Mr Juan Luis Kruger, spoke recently at the 2015 ITRI China International Tin Forum in Shanghai. He stated that tin production from Pitinga will increase 20% to 30% this year and will largely offset lower tin production of 20,000 to 22,000 tonnes from the San Rafael mine in Peru. Mr Kruger stated that head grades at San Rafael have now stabilised at the reserve grade and are unlikely to fall much further. He also provided an update on Minsur’s Bofedal II tailings projects near San Rafael. A PFS for the project will be completed this year, with a DFS to be undertaken in 2016 and production targeted for early to mid-2018.
