The operators of the Penouta tin-tantalum-niobium mine in Spain, which faced provisional suspension of the Section C permit in October 2023 following an environmental complaint, have announced a partial reopening while the company awaits the court’s decision.

Strategic Minerals Europe holds two Mining Concessions at the Penouta site: Section C, covering hard rock natural mineral resources, and Section B, covering non-natural resources including tailings and waste dumps from historical operations. The company’s Section C permit was provisionally suspended by the Superior Court of Xustiza of Galicia in October 2023, leading to the immediate closure of the mine. Before its closure, the mine produced 351 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate in 2023.

IberAmerican, currently in the process of merging with Strategic Minerals Europe, announced that production would resume on completion of the proposed transaction, with extraction from tailings and waste materials of the Section B resource. The company also announced that it was committed to making improvements to enhance extraction efficiency from the Section C hard rock resource so that the company can resume production as soon as possible after the lifting of the suspension.

IberAmerican CEO, Campbell Becher, commented: “Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, we intend to promptly resume production in Section B, generating immediate cash flow. Concurrently, we are dedicated to executing essential capital investments to bolster production efficiencies, laying the groundwork for the reactivation of operations in the expansive Penouta resource within Section C later this year.”

After the abandoning of the Penouta mine in 1985 due to the collapse in tin prices, production recommenced in 2018, but in 2022, a complaint was filed by an environmentalist group against the local mining authority requesting the revocation of the permit. The claim alleged that operations at Penouta were affecting irrigation and the immediate area.

Following the court’s October 2023 decision to provisionally suspend the permit, the company unsuccessfully appealed, with the court reaffirming the provisional suspension until its verdict on the original complaint – due on 31 May 2024.

Our view: After an unwelcome end to 2023 for Strategic Minerals Europe, it is promising to see progress on the Penouta project while the company and its workforce await the court’s decision. The capital investment committed by IberAmerican signals the company’s hope and confidence alongside Strategic Minerals Europe that the court will reconsider the suspension.

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Strategic Minerals Europe Corp (SME) saw record quarterly production at its Penouta mine following an overhaul to their main ball mill.

Situated in Spain and the EU’s largest active tin mine, Penouta produced a record 206 tonnes of tin concentrate for the quarter, at 69.7% Sn. The resulting tin-in-concentrate production of 144 tonnes is also a record for the mine, increasing 32% from the same quarter last year.

Jamie Perez Branger, CEO, explains the reason for the improved performance, stating “the second quarter of 2023 was the first quarter of full production after we completed the major overhaul of our main ball mill in February.”

The overhaul, which took 21 days, was carried out to avoid future mechanical breakdowns and stoppages that hampered operations in the run-up to February. Production during Q4 2022, when disruptions were most severe, fell by almost half from levels in Q3.

Despite a poor performance of the tin price relative to last year, improved production has had a positive impact on sales, resulting in revenue reported by SME to be roughly flat year-on-year. Cassiterite sales reached 193 tonnes for Q2, up 37% from last year. “For the rest of 2023 and forward, we expect to continue to benefit from this increased production and efficiency.”, Branger continues.

Our View: Assuming continued levels of production, ITA expects Penouta to produce around 500 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate this year, an increase of over 50% from last year’s production.

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Penouta, located in north-western Spain, has been in operation since 2018. Project owners, Strategic Minerals Europe (SME), were processing material at the B1 tailings pond before switching to open-pit mining early last year.

“With the successful transition to open pit mining… along with other operational improvements, we had a record year in terms of the production and quality of concentrates,” said Jaime Perez Branger, CEO of SME. The company achieved record tin concentrate production of 455 tonnes in 2022, rising 84% from 2021 pre-open-pit mining figures.

With an increase in concentrate grades to 70.4%, tin-in-concentrate production is estimated to have doubled year-on-year reaching around 325 tonnes.

This comes despite hindered operations throughout the year from adverse weather conditions in the summer and a malfunctioning primary mill in the final quarter. The company has since completed a significant overhaul of its primary mill in March 2023, believing this upgrade will renew the equipment’s useful lifetime and therefore increase production.

“While adverse weather conditions and macroeconomic headwinds made 2022 a challenging year, our strong production and improving margins highlight the successful application of our strategy.” Mr. Branger continues. The company expects to increase production further in 2023.

Our View: Since ITA’s visit to Penouta in May last year, Strategic Minerals has continued to successfully transition to open-pit mining. Record-high production is set to continue with higher production rates across the entire year.

It will be interesting to see how SME tackles the increasing operational costs associated with open-pit-mining. The company plans to set up a pilot plant to identify and separate industrial minerals – if successful, this will help reduce costs and increase cash flow.

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ITA recently visited various tin industry stakeholders in Spain in order to gain insight into developments in the country.

Spain represents a microcosm of the tin industry, with all parts of the value chain represented – from tin mining up to tin use. Recycling is a particularly important part of the Spanish tin industry, with the BIR conference being hosted in Barcelona the same week and well attended by the tin industry.

ITA first visited the Oropesa project in southern Spain. Owned by Australian firm Elementos, the mine has been in development for a number of years, beginning life as a small project owned by Eurotin. A small team from the company’s Spanish subsidiary, Minas de Estaños de España (MESPA), showed ITA staff drill core from the project, as well as the future site of the mine pit. ESG considerations were high on the agenda of Elementos’ mine plan; the company plans to recycle water used in the mine through the processing plant and is also planning to replant any trees disturbed by the future pit. Elementos aims to begin mining at Oropesa in 2024.

In Madrid, ITA met with Atlantic Copper, a subsidiary of major copper Freeport-McMoRan. The company is currently constructing the CirCular project, an extension of its Huelva copper recycling plant. CirCular will process some 60,000 tonnes of e-waste annually, recovering a variety of critical metals, including tin. However, one of the major challenges for recyclers is the variability in tin grades – particularly in waste electronics. ITA discussed potential methods for reducing grade variability and dealing with this issue with Atlantic Copper.

With solder the largest tin use, and electronics is the major end use of solder; recovery of tin from e-waste is therefore vital for a circular tin industry. Production from Atlantic Copper’s CirCular project is currently slated to begin in 2024. Based on the average tin grade of PCBs of some 1.9% Sn, ITA estimates that output from the Huelva plant could reach nearly 1,000 tonnes annually.

As the only currently operating primary source of tin in Europe, Mina de Penouta was an important visit for ITA. Owned by Strategic Minerals Europe, Penouta is also the only current European supplier of tantalum and niobium. Over the past few years, Strategic Minerals have mined tailings from past mining projects, but broke ground on the open pit in March 2022.

The open pit will be developed in two phases: initial mining will take place in the upper portions while the lower areas are dewatered. Tailings from the dewatered pit will then be blended with primary ore, before the pit is expanded deeper. Production at Penouta is set to increase to around 60 tonnes tin-in-concentrate per month with the initiation of open pit mining and improvements to the processing plant made in January.

ITA were pleased to meet ITA member Aurubis at its Berango plant. Berango is one of Aurubis’ smaller sites but is a key part of the recycling chain. ITA was treated to a tour of the plant to see how Berango treats a variety of scrap materials. Although primarily producing black copper, Aurubis Berango also converts tin-containing scraps into a tin-lead alloy. This alloy is then transported to Aurubis Beerse for further processing.

ITA and Aurubis discussed challenges in the tin market, particularly in the scrap sector. Availability of scrap material has been declining across Europe in recent years; as tin prices have risen, downstream tin users have looked to reduce processing losses. However, the sector is likely to return to steady growth as electronics proliferate.

ITA paid its first visit to Estaños Matiena, a detinner based in San Sebastian. Estaños processes 3,000 tonnes per month scrap at its plant in Zumaia. The company’s primary feedstock is tinned copper coils and stampings. After its proprietary detinning process, the removed tin is now smelted into an alloy, thanks to the January installation of a new furnace.

Our view: ITA would like to thank all the companies mentioned in this article for their hospitality and insight. We look forward to continuing our discussions in the future, and visiting more tin industry participants in the coming months.

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Strategic Minerals Europe (SME) has announced that it has begun mining tin from the new open pit at its Penouta project.

Penouta, located in north-western Spain, has been in operation since 2018, having restarted following a 30-year gap after mining ceased in 1985. SME claims to be the largest miner of tin on the continent.

Current production comes from the B1 tailings pond, which contains 4.8 million tonnes of material, with an average grade of 387 ppm Sn. This is currently being fed into a 1.1 million tonne per annum gravimetric processing plant, resulting in some 45 tonnes of tin concentrate per month.

With the move to open pit mining, SME expect to increase the head grade entering the processing plant. According to SRK’s March 2021 Technical Report for the project, the hard rock deposit at Penouta contains 76.3 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 443 ppm as a Measured and Indicated Resources. A further 57 million tonnes at 389 ppm Sn are categorised as Inferred Resources.

Production from the open pit will be complemented with feed from the B1 dry stack tailings – a further 6.8 million tonnes at 458 ppm Sn. The company aims to produce some 90 tonnes per month of Sn-Ta concentrate for the first six months of the year, upping this to 100 tonnes per month in the second half. According to SME, the concentrate will be roughly 70% cassiterite and 30% tantalum.

With cashflow increasing, SME is looking ahead. The company is focused on expanding its tin production, with three additional properties, through its phased growth strategy.

Initially, the company is investigating whether a smelter would be feasible at Penouta; SME hopes to produce 99.95% Sn ingots. According to a December 2021 presentation, the company plans to begin production from the pyrometallurgical plant in 2022.

In terms of expanding mine output, the Alberta II lithium-tin project is the most advanced of the company’s projects. Alberta II has a historical (non-JORC Compliant) resource of 12.3 million tonnes at 440ppm Sn. The Macarena and Carlota projects are also seen as having potential for tin. All three projects are located in north-western Spain.

Our view: SME is pursuing an aggressive expansion programme in its tin business, with the possibility of production of co-products from future mines beneficial in keeping the mine’s operating expenditure low. The proposition of a smelter is an interesting one, given that Europe currently has no primary refined tin production.

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