the final hurdle then big bounce ahead., page-74

Consolidated Tin sets sights on new mine

Consolidated Tin's shares shot up by nearly one third after the release of a study indicating Australia's second tin mine will be operating late next year.
Source AAP

Shares in Consolidated Tin soared after the miner's latest study predicted it would get only the second tin mine in Australia into production by the end of 2014.

Consolidated Tin's pre-feasibility study found its Mt Garnet project in north Queensland could support a nine-year mine, producing nearly 3,000 tonnes of tin concentrate a year.

The news comes with tin prices booming due to Indonesia - a major and high cost producer - dramatically cutting exports by up to 75 per cent.

Tin is also benefitting from new industrial uses as manufacturers replace lead with tin.

Lead-free tin solders are used in electronics products including smart phones and flat screen TVs, while tin is replacing lead in solvents.

The number of new tin projects is limited, and the world's biggest tin mine, San Rafael in Peru, will close by 2017.

Consolidated Tin's share price shot up 30 per cent to 7.8 cents on Monday.

Managing director Ralph De Lacey told reporters on Monday he was near certain the mine would be operating and the company would be selling tin by the end of calendar 2014.

He also predicted the strong tin price of nearly $US24,000 ($A25,927.73) a tonne would slightly improve next year, due to a healthy supply-demand balance, but he would not want it to go higher and force customers to seek alternatives.

The price of tin was about $US3,000 a tonne in 2000.

Mr De Lacey said he hoped to have raised the estimated $65 million in capital costs to build the mine by February, through a capital raising and debt.

The company's largest investor, China's Snowpeak Group, bought collapsed miner Kagara's assets for $US40 million earlier in 2013.

That included a mill that Consolidated Tin will run its tin ore through, as well as the products of its operating, cash generating copper-base metals mines.

"I convinced our cornerstone investor the we must buy that mill, which has cut out capital costs significantly," Mr De Lacey said.

The Mt Garnet project will generate half of its earnings from iron ore and chemical element fluorine, which will keep tin production costs at $US14,000 a tonne.

The other Australian tin mine is Metals X's Renison, in Tasmania.