Official figures from Peru’s Energy and Mines Ministry reveal a year-on-year fall in mined tin production in January and February 2015 of some 24%, primarily due to depletion of mineral resources at Minsur’s San Rafael operation, the country’s only tin mine.
Production from San Rafael, which totalled 2,911 tonnes tin-in-concentrate in the first two months of 2015, has made Peru the 3rd largest tin producer in the world in recent years. Minsur’s Pisco smelter refines tin concentrates produced exclusively at the mine, although in 2014 there was some trial production using small volumes of tin concentrates from the Pitinga mine in Brazil, operated by Minsur’s subsidiary Taboca.
Declining grades and rising costs at San Rafael have resulted in a fall in refined tin production averaging 9% per year over the last 5 years. This is despite production being sustained in 2014 by the refining of excess tin concentrates as part of a stock optimisation program. This trend is set to continue, with Minsur expecting total refined tin production from its Peruvian operations of between 20,000 – 22,000 tonnes of tin in 2015, 9% – 17% less than the 24,223 tonnes of tin refined in 2014.
