Russian Tin Miner Eyes Expansion

SEATTLE (ITRI.CO.UK): Despite tin prices reaching a three-year low in September, Russian tin miner Seligdar forecasts that it will produce up to 60% more tin concentrate in 2019 than in the year before.

Seligdar currently operates the Festivalnoye and Perevalnoye deposits in eastern Russia, and produced 1,531 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate last year, a 52% increase from 2017. The forecast increase is due to the ramp-up of the Pravourmiysk project and the modernisation of the Solnechnaya concentration plant, which current processes production from Festivalnoye and Perevalnoye. Capacity at Solnechnaya will increase from 240,000 tonnes/year of ore to 400,000 tonnes/year, despite having only begun full-scale operation in September 2017. The Pravourmiysk project will also host an processing unit alongside mining operations. Here the capacity will be around 600,000 tonnes of ore per year, producing around 5,000 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate.

However, Seligdar are not planning to stop there. The company are aiming to produce 6,000 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate per year by 2024 and are well on their way, having tripled output year-on-year in the first half of 2019. Tin-in-concentrate production rose to 1,000 tonnes in the first half of 2019, from around just 300 tonnes previously. With 80,000 tonnes of tin already in reserves, and exploration activities targeting an additional 52,500 tonnes of tin, Seligdar appear well placed to expand Russian tin mining.

Courtesy: www. itri.co.uk