Brazilian base metals group Paranapanema has signed a deal to sell all of its controlling stake in the Taboca mining company to Serra da Madeira for 850 million reais ($470 million), Reuters reports. The price of the deal is subject to adjustments under due diligence. Paranapanema holds virtually all the outstanding shares of Taboca, which in turn holds a controlling stake in Companhia Mamore Mineracao e Metalurgia that will now also fall under control of Serra da Madeira. Serra da Madeira is indirectly controlled by Minsur SA of Peru.
Taboca owns the Pitinga mine in Amazonas, which has very large low grade reserves of tin, along with niobium, tantalum and uranium. The mine produced 6,602 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate last year and 3,814 tonnes (down 5.6% year-on-year) in the first seven months of this year. The mine is in the process of being expanded to a capacity of some 10,000 tpy. Mamore’s smelter in Sao Paulo treats all of the mine’s output, plus some concentrates from other smaller Brazilian mines.
Minsur produced 39,019 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate in 2007 and 22,839 tonnes (up 1.4% year-on-year) in January-July 2008. The combination of the two integrated South American companies could potentially create the world’s second largest tin producer, producing about the same volume of refined tin as Indonesia’s PT Timah. The world number one is currently China’s Yunnan Tin.
