Indonesian local government responds to miners’ protests
Indonesia's South Bangka government will allow small miners to resume mining after a protest over a recent police crackdown on illegal mining, a local legislator told Reuters on Thursday. The move could help increase supplies of tin ore to independent smelters....
Indonesian private smelters remain closed
Spokesmen for the leading consortium of Indonesian independent tin smelters told Reuters today that the group’s smelters remain closed as a result of a shortage of ore supplies. Many small mines have stopped operating recently as a result of increased police...
Vinto production expanding
Bolivia’s Vinto smelter will increase refined tin output this year and start on a major expansion programme in 2010, Mining Minister Luis Alberto Echazu told Bloomberg. Vinto will refine at least 10,500 tonnes of tin in 2009, Echazu said yesterday in an...
LME users upset by tin squeeze
The tin market on the London Metal Exchange is "disorderly" and prices are distorted as latest data shows one entity controls more than 90 percent of stocks and cash contracts, industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday. "This is not a good situation...
Lara to continue exploration of Brazilian tin project
Canadian TSX-listed Lara Exploration continues to investigate the possibility of hard-rock mining at the Sao Lourenco project in Rondonia state, Brazil "Tin mining in Brazil has declined in recent years as placer resources become exhausted or unviable due to...
China’s August imports ease
Latest trade data released by China shows tin imports following a pattern similar to that of many metals and other commodities: tonnages have continued to decline from peaks reached a few months ago, but are still well above year-ago levels. Refined tin imports in...
No slowdown in Indonesian shipments yet
Trade ministry data released today indicates that tin exports out of Indonesia remained quite high in August, before the latest police clampdown took full effect. The volume of tin checked for export by surveyors amounted to 8,444 tonnes last month, 2.6% higher than...
More Indonesia arrests
Indonesian police said on Tuesday they have arrested nine tin ore collectors in a fresh crackdown on illegal mining in the main tin-producing islands, which may force smelters to remain shut for longer. Pipit Rismanto, head of the special crime unit in the...
Korea stockpile authority to maintain purchase volumes through 2010
Base metal stockpile purchases by South Korea in 2010 will be similar to this year's total, the state-run Public Procurement Service said on Wednesday. In 2009, the agency plans to buy 199,800 tonnes of base metals worth 584 billion won ($482 million), and has bought...