Peruvian miner Minsur SA , the world’s third largest tin producer, will produce 30,000 tonnes of tin this year, similar to last year’s output, Chief Executive Juan Luis Kruger told Reuters. Kruger also said the company is expanding and diversifying its operations and plans to invest between US$1.5 billion and $2 billion over the next seven years in deposits in Brazil and Peru.
Minsur produces about 11% of world tin output, with about 25,000 tonnes of tin per year produced from its San Rafael mine in Peru and the rest from the Mineracao Taboca Pitinga mine in Brazil. By the end of 2016 or the start of 2017, Minsur plans to operate a tailings treatment program at San Rafael that would add an additional 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes of tin to its annual production, Kruger said. “The focus at San Rafael is to basically keep optimizing results and operational efficiency, and to recover reserves and resources,” Kruger said at a mining conference in Arequipa, Peru.
“We want to focus mainly on tin, and secondly copper and gold as part of the diversification of our portfolio,” Kruger said. “We now need to grow in a disciplined fashion after a decade of growth at any price.” The company started production of gold at the Pucamarca mine in Peru earlier this year, while work is ongoing to develop the Mina Justa copper deposit, which has 3.3Mt in reserves, with partners Korea Resources and LS-Nikko by 2020. Minsur is also looking to expand its Pitinga tin-niobium-tantalum mine in Brazil in 2015.
