China illegal mines clampdown a success
China's Ministry of Land and Resources announced on Tuesday that authorities in the country have found and ordered the clean-up of 284 illegal mines in an effort to regulate the exploration of valuable minerals. The number of small-scale operations producing minerals...
South Crofty re-opening setback
Western United Mines has made 16 of its 60 staff redundant at the South Crofty project in Cornwall, UK, following delays in resolving land access issues with the local authorities. In a statement reported by the BBC, WUM said : "The move follows a need to...
Hemerdon project planning approval
ASX-listed Wolf Minerals has received updated planning permission for the development of the Hemerdon tungsten-tin project in Devon, UK and will now finalise a definitive feasibility on a large scale open pit operation there. Wolf acquired the project in 2007,...
Koba Tin plans stable output in 2011
Indonesia’s PT Koba Tin plans to produce 6,620 tonnes of refined tin this year, virtually unchanged from actual output of 6,644 tonnes achieved in 2010. Although Koba’s mine production exceeded its target last year, despite adverse weather conditions,...
Indonesian exports decline
Provisional data published today by Indonesia’s trade ministry showed the tonnage of tin checked prior to export fell by 9.2% year-on-year to 7,722 tonnes in December. Total cumulative tonnage for 2010 was 92,487 tonnes, 6.8% lower than in 2009. The statistics...
Adex examines smelter plan for Mount Pleasant
Adex Mining has announced a further step in assessing the viability of building a tin smelter to serve its Mount Pleasant tin-zinc-indium mine project in New Brunswick, Canada. It has engaged Xstrata Process Support ("XPS") of Sudbury, Ontario to test the...
TNT Mines to expand tin project portfolio
TNT Mines Pty Ltd has entered a joint venture with Clancy Exploration Ltd over two exploration licences in northwest Tasmania. TNT is a subsidiary of ASX-listed Minemakers Limited. In November 2010, Minemakers announced its intention to spin-off TNT via an initial...
China issues first 2011 export quotas
The Chinese government issued a first batch of 2011 export quotas for non-ferrous metals at the end of December. According to the Ministry of Commerce website the initial quota allocation for tin and tin products is 11,340 tonnes, up from 7,812 tonnes issued at the...
MSC prepares for Singapore listing
Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC) has lodged a preliminary prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore for the listing of its shares on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). If successful, it would make the company dual-listed on the Bursa Malaysia and the SGX. MSC...