A new tin smelter has opened in China’s Jiangxi province, according to Antaike in Beijing. Nanshan Tin Co. Ltd. commissioned the new plant in Nankang Industrial Zone, Ganzhou, on April 9, sources from Ganzhou government said. The project has a design capacity of 10,000 tonnes of refined tin per year and involved a total investment of up to RMB 150 million. (US$22 million).
The start-up occurs at a time when Chinese smelters are struggling to obtain sufficient raw materials due to cut backs in mine production and a shortage of scrap. However Nanshan Tin is believed to have a relationship with a Jiangxi mining company which is likely to provide part of its concentrate feed.
China’s refined tin production fell by 30.4% to 21,074 tonnes in the first quarter of 2009 according to CNIA provisional official statistics, with Jiangxi province accounting for 9% of the national total.
