tin price, page-18

s7s, no there arent any now but there are some Tassie tin explorers who have found some interesting deposits on the west coast. I have not done any work much on these but they would be worth a look. Probably a while to production though.
It struck me last night thining about tin deposits around the world. The remaining main producers are China, Indonesia and Bolivia. China seems to have recognised how tight tin is getting and is restricting exports, Indonesia is reining in the illegal miners and controlling production, and Bolivia? Can sovereign risk get much higher than there based on recent events? The crypto Communist government there is nationalising everything in sight. Goodness knows what the Bolivian state would be like at managing a mine. Probably as well as they are at managing everything else, if you get the drift.
Given that the electronics industry depends on it, and the world is getting into interesting times politically, which of these countries would you want to rely on as a source of supply?
Conclusion: Tasmanian tin is of real strategic significance. And the bulk of that will be MLX for quite a while. If a defence contractor or etc wanted a secure source of supply in a safe country-for supply agreements which of China, Indonesia, Bolivia, and Australia would you put at the top of the list of preferred sources, without being offensive? China is naturally concerned to maintain adequate supply for its own use, Indonesia is now managing a dwindling resource more wisely but is not exactly stable politically. Premiums over spot market prices could occur for this added advantage. Its not as if the cost of tin is critiacl to the production of a TV for example, but if it is unobtainable you are in real trouble as a manufacturer.