renisons revivel .....the advocate

Renison's revival
BY SEAN FORD
26/07/2008 12:00:00 AM
RENISON mining is back for the long haul, underpinned by environment-driven demand and high tin prices, Metals X believes.

The company officially reopened the historic West Coast mine yesterday and expects to ship its first tin concentrates to Thailand and Malaysia soon.

Managing director Peter Cook painted a rosy picture, saying the company could recoup its $100 million investment in Tasmania within a year.


"I am pleased to advise that after nearly three years on care and maintenance and following a phase of substantial rebuild and planning, Renison has been reborn and that commercial tin production is again underway."


It is another big boost to the booming West Coast, bringing about 190 long-term jobs, along with another 30 long-term at the company's Mt Bischoff tin mine to the north.


There are about 180 people working at Renison and another 60 contractors at Mt Bischoff.


Mr Cook said much demand was coming from tin's use as a replacement for lead solder in electronics, as a way to end lead contamination at landfills from old computers, mobile phones and so on.


" ... it is the fundamental shift by the electronics industry to lead-free solders that has dominated consumption growth.


"It (lead) is shiny silver but it's a green metal.


"Tin has the unique property amongst base metals that it is benign to humans."


He said tin prices were at record highs and set to go much higher, while demand was significantly exceeding supply even with Renison back on stream.


In key developments:


Commissioning has been done to the point of producing concentrate and the operation will build up to full capacity;


the company will continue Mt Bischoff operations for at least three years; and


it will have a feasibility study done by November on a major project to recover material from re- treating Renison's tailings.